ColorCoded
by Jyo-Chan
Summary: Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas
1. Blinded

Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas

This has multiple side pairings as well, but they don't have a big part in the story. Lols. Have a good read.

To those who know who I am, hello and salutations to you again! Good to hear from you! To those who are new, I hope my story catches your eyes and makes you wanna read more! Lols!

* * *

A red head squinted his eyes as he tried to pick up the words on the screen projector, having a small bit of difficulty.

A few people in his class, even his teacher, had suggested more than once that he should get a pair of glasses. He insisted that he's not actually having any difficulty with reading the words and he's got twenty/twenty vision.

A few of his classmates were a bit skeptical at first, but as the red head persisted in saying he's fine, they eventually gave up giving him the suggestion of getting a pair of much needed glasses.

'Glasses make me look like a nerd…' he reasoned as he flipped over to another chapter of his exercise book and started doing the examples and work stated on the page.

He could feel a headache coming on from concentrating on the screen too much. This would occur almost everyday during class. The teacher warned him that he'll strain his eyes if he continues going on without glasses.

Again, he insisted that he's fine and doesn't need them.

The teacher, a fairly old man with long, graying hair and spectacles sitting atop his nose sighed as he continued teaching his class the rules of business economics.

The red head proceeded to half listen as he worked on the examples and case studies listed in the book, he occasionally stopped to write out something that his teacher said into his note book before going back to the exercises.

He didn't particularly like this class. He doesn't even like the subject that he's studying. But he can't seem to be able to do anything else, so this turned into one of his last resort classes.

He looked up at the white circular clock that hung on the wall and stared at the ticking black hands. He concluded that there was about another half an hour or so of his three hour lecture left.

He sighed as he started rubbing his forehead with his free hand while the other continued to scribble down much needed notes for upcoming exams.

This was such a draining and boring subject, he tried to remember why he picked it. And as he looked at the black words staring up at him from the white paper, he remembered.

But even so, it didn't have to be _this_ boring.

Once the lecture was finished, and once they were dismissed from the class, the teacher shouted back out the suggestion for glasses again but the red head merely threw back a wave as he walked out the door.

He stepped out into the hallway, careful not to bump into anybody who's going into the lecture room for their next subject class. And as he took hold of the silver railing off to the side and walked down the steps to go down onto the floor below, he readjusted the shoulder strap of his black messenger bag and walked out into the open world where a fresh gust of air greeted his face.

He sucked in a breath as he made his way towards his locker located on the other side of the campus and as he walked closer to the main part of the university, it became more crowded with other students.

Somebody yelled out his name, and he turned around to see a girl from his class running up to him with a couple of text books in her arms. He stepped off to the side so that he wasn't blocking the pedestrian traffic.

Once she caught up with him, she adjusted her glasses and pulled the straps of her shoulder bag higher up, "Hey, have you considered getting prescriptions for contact lenses?" she suggested with a smile and raised one hand to tuck a bit of her long, blonde hair behind her ear.

He smirked, "Are you suggesting that I poke my eyes out?"

She laughed, "Of course not, but it will help when you're looking at the projector." As she spoke, a bit of her hair slipped out of its hold at the back of her head where she had a plain, black barrette clipped on.

"Thanks Quistis, but I'm fine." He insisted for the tenth time that day, "I've got twenty/twenty vision. Got it memorized?" he smirked as he tapped his forehead.

The headache had already dissipated.

She shook her head and frowned a little, "Don't make me say 'I told you so' when you end up getting thick lenses because you didn't want to get a pair of glasses." She warned with a point of a finger.

He chuckled and put his hands up in mock defeat, "Alright, alright. I'll see you tomorrow." He waved and started walking back to the main campus again.

"See you!" she called out before walking off in the opposite direction, readjusting her shoulder strap along the way.

He maneuvered easily around the other students and vaguely felt his pocket vibrating, but he decided to leave it for later as he tried to go towards his locker.

He let out a sigh of relief once he stopped in front of the light metallic box in front of him and proceeded to turn the dial of the combination lock.

This was already his second year at the campus, but he still wasn't quite use to the bustling crowd of people. It felt as though there were more appearing with each passing day.

Sooner or later, he might actually turn claustrophobic.

He sighed at the thought as he opened his locker and placed in his books from his previous class. He's already finished the designated homework, but he figured he'll leave the books in the locker for now and try and meet up with some other people first before coming back and taking them back home.

His phone vibrated again and he took it out of his pocket as his other hand closed the door of the locker.

'Wanna meet in the uni bar later on?'

That was a text from his friend. He quickly punched in a reply and sent it as he placed the combination lock on his locker and walked off towards his new destination.

'Xiggy's joining us too!'

That was another text from the same person. He smiled at the name. He hadn't seen that guy in a couple of months or so. It'll be nice to finally catch up with him again.

He wiped the smile of his face as soon as he pocketed his phone back and stepped out of the locker room.

The bar was located in between an ice cream shop and a book store. It was a fairly interesting place to have a business in, but they seemed to be doing well enough. A lot of the students would go there as soon as their classes are over and done with for the day.

Nobody actually walks out piss-ass drunk. None that the red head had seen so far anyways. But then again, it's still broad daylight. Whoever would actually binge drink while the sun's still out must either be stupid, or crazy.

Or depressed and needed a pick me up.

On the way to the pub located in the quad area, he had to walk through a series of hallways and computer rooms. And as he neared the meeting area, he remembered that he needed to take out a book from the library to study from.

Just as well that the library was on the way.

As he turned into another hallway, he accidentally bumped into another person. He was almost blinded at the same time.

He widened his eyes in a mixture of surprise and shock, he had never, ever in his life, seen hair of that color before. Or any color for that matter.

And with his heart beating rapidly in his ribcage, he had never felt so alive before. He was sure the boy might've heard it too. He felt it ringing in his ears.

The boy apologized and flashed a smile before running off somewhere.

Only one thing passed in the mind of the red head, it was that the boy's smile and hair rivaled the intensity of the sun's rays.

And with that thought, he figured he should take up poetry or literature soon. He wondered if it was too late in the year to make a switch.

The red head wanted to see the boy again, but by the time he turned around and looked, the boy had already gone and disappeared down the hallway off to some unknown location.

'Is this what it's like to fall in love?'

He raised a hand and placed it over his heart where he could feel it beating at a rapid pace and he couldn't help but suddenly smile as he ran off to find his friends and tell them of his discovery.

He forgot all about that book he needed to study from.

* * *

Previously…

* * *

A blond boy plucked off a green marker from a pack of four colored tags and stuck it onto a page of his exercise book. He flipped to a different page that starts a new chapter and pulled another colored marker off, a blue one this time, and stuck it onto the page before flipping to the next chapter.

He continued on doing this until he reached the end of the book before starting with the next new exercise book that he had just recently bought from the over-priced book store that was by the bar.

He had to walk past the bar and the bouncer had almost demanded an ID from him when he said he was only going to the book store.

He was fairly short for his age, and more than once, a few people thought he was still in high school and wondered if he was a genius that got pushed up a few years.

He still wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult.

Back to the subject of over-priced books, he could've easily gotten the books for around 25 percent less the price online, but he didn't have a credit card and he didn't want to ask his parents for help.

They still think buying things online is unsafe and completely unnecessary.

They don't know the cruel world of university…Money grubbing shop keepers that constantly try to bleed dry the students of their hard-earned cash.

Although half of it came from student allowance.

Still, he figured he could've applied for a credit card by himself, but after thinking about the tax issues, the interest of which you have to pay back to the bank when you use it plus a service fee, it was probably a lot more trouble than what was worth.

His phone started to vibrate in the pocket of his jacket and he casually took it out and looked at it.

'Hey, do you want to get something to eat? Let's meet at the park.'

He smiled as he quickly punched in a reply and sent it before pocketing it back into his jacket and packing things up.

He figured he should stop by his locker to drop things off first before meeting up with his friend.

He readjusted the shoulder strap of his black and white messenger bag as he stepped out of the library.

It was getting a little heavy, what with the new texts books and all that he just recently bought. He sighed as he readjusted the strap once again and turned the corner into the hallway.

He accidentally bumped into somebody and looked up to see a guy, at least a head taller than him with red hair, stare at him with wide green eyes.

The blond apologized and smiled before side stepping and walking away again

He sighed out in relief when he was a good distance away. He almost thought he was about to get into a fight with the taller boy.

But just in case the boy _did_ decide to pick a fight, he fastened his pace just a little.

* * *

Bear with me…I know it's short…Like, a hell of a lot shorter than my last story, but it's only just the beginning!!

(Sings) It's only just the beginning!!! (Gets knocked on the head with a rock) Oww…


	2. The Usual

Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas

This has multiple side pairings as well, but they don't have a big part in the story. Lols. Have a good read.

Hey guys, I just thought I should tell you that I'm not gonna include review replies in the chapters anymore, so that way, you can skip right on ahead to the story! But, that doesn't mean I won't reply! (Smiles)

* * *

"I swear! I'm telling you! He was in color!" the red head cried out to his friends who continued to laugh at him as they sat on the stools around the bar area.

"What color was he then?" the boy who was sitting beside him with a strange haircut of mixed mullet and mohawk asked incredulously as he brought the beer bottle up to his lips and drank from it.

"I don't know what color he was!" he cried out before harshly whispering to his group of so-called friends, "I'm colorblind you retard." He smacked the dirty haired blond on the head who snorted into his drink.

He wiped off the beer that dripped off his chin with the back of his hand as he tried to hold back another laugh, "Hey, I'm not the one pretending to see color here." He reached over to a bowl of peanuts in front of the red head, plucked one up and popped it into his mouth. "Mm…Toasted peanuts." He commented idly as he reached over for another one.

After he finished sputtering indignantly, he found his voice again, "But it's true! I saw him, I did!" he tried to convince them, "He was bright, like…" he tried to think of a good example, "Like the sun! Or something like that…" he finished lamely.

"So, this guy was yellow then?" the dirty haired blond asked as he popped another peanut into his mouth along with another sip of beer while another guy with a ponytail snorted out in guffaws.

The red head glared at his laughing friend, "Maybe…I don't know what yellow looks like." He mumbled out, feeling a little bit ashamed that his friends didn't believe him.

But he knew what he saw. The kid was in color. He'd swear and hope to die. But he still wanted to see the kid first.

He hadn't been able to see any color for as long as he could remember, maybe 15 years or so.

He sighed as he turned around using the swivel bar stool and tried looking around for something that resembled the boy he saw.

There wasn't any color in sight. As far as his eyes could see.

Nothing other than black and white and shades of gray.

"Dude, you can't even tell the difference between red and green." The one with the long ponytail snorted as he took another gulp of his beer.

The red head scowled.

"Or hot pink with dark blue." The dirty haired blond snickered behind his hand and avoided another blow to the head.

The red head was tempted to pick up the stool that was screwed to the floor to hit his best friend over with.

"Or dark purple with black." The boy with blue hair spoke as he gingerly held onto a full bottle of beer.

The red head almost threw his beer bottle at him but opted for a different approach, "Hey I didn't know eggplants were that color ok?!" he glared at he pointed at them. "Any colorblind person wouldn't be able to tell unless somebody told them so." He spoke as he spun around and rested his arms on the bar table.

"Yes, yes Axel. We're sorry." The dirty haired blond apologized as he swung an arm across the said person's shoulder.

He scoffed, "Like fuck yeah, you're sorry." He muttered out with distaste in his words as he brought the beer bottle up to his lips and drank over half of the bottle away.

"I was just playing with you Axel, I believe you, really I do."

"Yeah, sure Demyx, sure." He scoffed again as he finished the rest of his drink and ordered another one.

Guess he'll be the first to walk out of the bar piss-ass drunk because he was depressed and needed a pick-me-up.

Or because he was crazy enough to think he saw color. Or stupid enough to think that his friends would really believe what he saw.

One of the options stated above.

As he brought the second bottle of beer up to his lips, he wondered if he'll ever see that boy again.

* * *

After the blond dropped his books off at his locker, he proceeded to walk through the crowd of students to get to his destination across the road.

The park.

It wasn't a big park, but it wasn't small either. It had a spacious feeling but it could get over-crowded with many people at certain times of the day.

Student in their free time usually go there to relax for a while before their next class, socialize with friends, or do their work in the sun because the library and computer rooms were booked and crowded.

On the way to the park, he spotted a few of his friends sitting around the benches that were situated every few meters or so. He wondered how much the university spent on those.

'No wonder the fees are going up every year.' He sighed internally as he walked over to them, there was still about five minutes left before he had to meet up with his friend.

One of them spotted the blond, "Yo Roxas! Did you just finish class?" the boy with the dirty blond hair slicked back with gel waved at him.

"About half an hour ago, I was in the library just now."

They laughed at him, "Man, you are such a nerd."

"Shut up Hayner, at least I'm getting good grades."

"What are you trying to say?" he sneered at him half heartedly.

"Nothing, nothing." He grinned and raised his hands in defense, "Anyways, what are you guys up to?"

The brunette girl tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear, "Oh nothing much, you know us, just lazing around." She waved her hands from side to side.

The boy with the black hair and band around his head licked his ice cream and suddenly remembered, "Oh, Hayner wants to go play pool later on, do you wanna join us?"

Olette clapped her hands, "Oh, that'll be awesome, instead of just us three, we can pair up!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea, unless Roxas has to meet up with his _girlfriend_ again." The dirty haired blond smirked.

"She's not my girlfriend." He frowned a little at that comment.

"Then say you'll join us for a game of pool."

"I have to meet up with a friend in like…two minutes or something."

"Yeah," he scoffed as he rolled his eyes, "Your _girlfriend_ you mean."

"Shut up Hayner." He scowled halfheartedly as he walked away, "Maybe next time." He waved at them and started for the park.

He reached his destination within a minute and saw a blonde girl standing by the sign that said 'Twilight Park' and called out her name, "Namine!" the said person turned around, smiled and waved.

He felt his heart go a-flutter as he fastened his pace to catch up to her, "Hey, have you been waiting long?" he asked as he stood in front of her.

"Nope, I just got here." She tucked a bit of her blonde hair behind her ear and pointed down the pathway leading out of the park, "Shall we go?"

"Usual place?"

"Of course." She smiled as they walked together, "How was class?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." He waved off the comment, "What about yours?"

"I've got an assignment to do, it's due in two weeks." She sighed as he tucked behind her blonde hair which keeps on slipping off its hold.

"Oh dammit, I've got an assignment due in two weeks too. I can't believe I forgot." He smacked his forehead as they walked, the blonde laughed at him. "I'll get it started tonight."

"Good. I know how much of a procrastinator you are." She giggled behind her hand.

"It was just that one time Namine!" he cried out with exasperation, "Will I never live that down?"

"Not for as long as I remember." She laughed while the blond half heartedly grumbled his displeasure.

* * *

Well into his fourth beer, the red head started to felt a little better. In the way that he couldn't care less about what's happening around him right now.

His senses were a little hazy but he still had a good idea of what's going on. He vaguely noticed that the bowl of peanuts in front of him were empty, save for a few crumbs and pieces.

Demyx, somewhere to his right, was trying to coax Zexion to drink another bottle of beer even though he insisted that one was already enough.

The red head brought his beer bottle to his lips and almost cracked his teeth on it when somebody gave him an all-too-hearty pat on the back.

"Ah Axel, don't tell me you're still sour about what happened eh?"

The said person turned to the other with the long ponytail, he decided not to give an answer.

"You're such a pansy." He snorted as he took the seat to the left of the red head. "Ok, so what. You see color from this kid, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I wanna talk to him. I wanna see him again. I wanna know why he's so special." He sighed, that boy had been the only thing to occupy his mind since he first laid eyes on him.

"And then what?" he snorted as he took a big gulp of his drink, "What if you scare the kid off huh?"

"If I scared him off, then I scared him off." He sincerely hoped he wouldn't though.

As though forgetting what they were talking about, either he wanted to change the subject or he's too drunk to recall, he pointed at the empty spot to the left of the bar, "Hey look, the pool table's free. You up for a round? Loser buys the winner another drink." He smirked.

"Shut the fuck up Xigbar." He rolled his eyes.

He let out a howl of laughter, "You can use the numbers as reference."

"No thanks. I can't play pool for crap." He declined as he took another sip of his drink.

"We're not playing for crap," he smirked.

"You know what I mean you shit-face." He let out an exasperated sigh while the other laughed and walked off in search for a certain blue haired boy who was conversing with his silver haired philosophy teacher on the far right side of the bar.

In the end, Demyx managed to get Zexion to order another bottle.

* * *

My sister got me in a pissy mood, I will not be held accountable for my actions. (Puts volume in fucking high and drowns the whole world out) 


	3. Flamin'

Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas

This has multiple side pairings as well, but they don't have a big part in the story. Lols. Have a good read.

This chapter is for Jessie aka Soraslilangel who's feeling a little down in the dumps…Feel better Jessie!!!

* * *

A certain blond was left confounded as he stared at the A4 booklet that stated what needed to be done, the requirements of passing and the marking scheme.

He had a vague idea of what he was suppose to be doing, but at the same time, he felt horrible, utterly lost as to what to do and where to start.

He sighed as he packed away his things and vacated the table and started his search for help at the student advisory center located somewhere in the library of which he was in.

He was supposed to get started on it the night before, but he figured he should go through his notes first and revise before getting to it. But he sort of procrastinated and left it till just after his lecture before going anything about it.

He had never ever had to go to the advisory center before, and he felt a little ashamed that he needed to seek out help for an assignment. A supposedly simple assignment.

But everybody needed a little push in the right direction every once in a while right?

Now's a good time as ever.

He followed the signs that showed where the place was and when he got there, the door was left wide open for anybody to enter. There was nobody at the desk so he knocked on the door before coming in.

"Hello?"

There was a rustling of what probably belonged to paper and footsteps that grew louder and out from the other side of the small center a lady with brunette hair smiled at him.

"Hello, do you need help with something?" she smiled as he walked towards the desk and placed down the small stack of paper. He noticed her name tag on her shirt, 'Ms Gainsborough.'

"Um…yes. I have an assignment that I'm supposed to be doing for my literature class, and I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to get started?"

"Literature hm?" she reached over to an opened cupboard and pulled out a blue folder, "I could phone somebody to come over and help you with it. Would you like to set up an appointment?"

"Oh um…" he had no idea this was how the system worked, "Sure, that'll be nice."

"Alright," she smiled as she opened the folder and scanned down the list of phone numbers, "Zexion is a regular helper here with Literature, he's currently studying the Diploma level, I'm sure he can help you." She smiled as she picked up the phone and pushed the numbers and waited.

"Sounds great." He smiled as he walked closer to the desk away from where he stood by the door, 'Wow, Diploma student. Can't wait to meet him.' He could hardly contain his excitement as he tapped his fingers on the wood in a rhythmic pattern.

The lady spoke on the phone in a one-way conversation and he could just barely hear a muffled reply coming from the other end and after a minute of talking, she said her goodbyes and hung up before looking up at the blond and smiling, "He said that he'll be over soon, he's in the library now."

"Oh, wow, ok. Sure." He stumbled with his words as he nodded.

"Why don't you have a seat at over there?" she motioned for the empty work area where the round tables were.

"Ok, thank you." He nodded his head in appreciation and walked over to the table. He swung his shoulder strap over his head and took out the books necessary to begin his assignment with and waited.

The boy with hair that looked light purple, he could hazard a guess as Zexion, came by within three minutes. "Hey Aerith, you called?" he spoke to the lady behind the desk.

"Yes and your client is right over there." She smiled as she motioned to the blond who immediately stood up.

He had a small smile on his face as he walked closer to the blond and outstretched his hand in a greeting, "Hi, I'm Zexion."

They shook hands, "My name is Roxas." He spoke as he watched the other boy nod his head and then occupy the seat on the other side of the round table.

"You needed some help with literature?" he asked as he swung his own shoulder bag over his head and took out some books of his own.

"Oh right," he suddenly remembered and immediately picked up the booklet that stated the requirements and work scheme and started asking question of whether this method would be more efficient or if that method would guarantee a better mark.

After spending half an hour with the boy, Roxas concluded that he was a pretty quiet guy, only talking when necessary but keeping to himself in his own work.

The blond only asked for help about certain things after he couldn't think of the answer for himself and after getting what he wanted from the other boy, he would go back to work with his assignment.

When he reached the thirty five percent mark of his assignment, he decided that he could probably finish the rest of it at home with the use of his internet.

"Hey Zexion," the said person looked up from his text book, "I really want to thank you for all your help, I'd still probably be pretty lost without your advice." He smiled sheepishly as he scratched his cheek.

The other boy smiled and nodded, "It's alright, everybody needs help every once in a while."

"What semester is this for you?" Roxas asked as he started packing away his books and things.

"This is my third semester."

"Oh I see, so this is your second year." He nodded his head in understanding, "How was the certificate course?"

"I skipped it."

The blond widened his eyes in surprise, "Can you do that?"

"With a reference and a portfolio, yes." He smiled as he closed the book that he was reading and placed it inside his plain, black messenger bag.

"Oh wow, ok."

Roxas felt the need to express his thanks in more than just words and he considered asking the other boy if he wanted to get a drink at the pub, but he didn't really like the idea of drinking himself. He thought that Zexion probably wouldn't appreciate it either.

As though sensing his inner turmoil, the slate haired boy spoke, "If you want, we can meet up again next time and I'll have a look through your assignment for you." He offered as he stood up from his seat and swung the shoulder strap of his bag over his shoulder.

"Really?"

"Of course, might as well be there from start to finish right?"

The blond laughed, he really liked this guy's sense of logic. They agreed and exchanged phone numbers before going off in different directions of the campus.

* * *

A red head sat in the computer lab with a pen in one hand poised over his work book and a chocolate chip muffin that Demyx baked for him to apologize for yesterday in the other.

All throughout the day, people had been staring and giggling at him. There were a couple of smirks here and there but he ignored all of them.

Although the comments were a little harder to ignore and drown out.

"Can't believe he's wearing something like that."

"Too bad, he's kind of hot."

"You reckon he'll still go out with me if I asked?"

Having reached his limit of stupidity for the day, he packed up his things and left the room, but not before he made sure that the computer he used was switched off.

Every corner he turned, every group of people he passed, everywhere he went, he would receive a truck load of stares, comments and giggles. He felt a little embarrassed and quickly dove into the bathroom to have a look in the mirror.

He turned his head from one side to another and found nothing on his face. He looked at his shirt and it looked cleaned as well.

He thought there was a paper note behind him, so he reached over and found nothing. He didn't know what was wrong with him. Unless…

Slowly, he turned so that his back faced the mirror and squinted his eyes at the barely-there words.

He widened his eyes in absolute shock, shoved his hand into his pocket, dug out his phone and dialed in a number he knew all too well.

And before the person on the other side could make out a greeting, he already started shouting bloody murder into the hand held device, "What the fuck did you make me wear Demyx." He cursed into his mobile as he tried to hide himself in one of the cubicles.

"Oh damn, you saw it?" the other sounded rather disappointed.

"I'm _flamin'_?! What the fuck Demyx, you don't toy with a man's fashion sense, got it memorized?!" he screamed into the phone and had to quiet himself down when he heard somebody enter the bathroom. "That's the last time I ever let you pick anything for me to wear _ever_ again Dem." And then he added, "Or shopping for that matter."

Laughter came out from the other side of the phone and he felt his anger being piqued, "Would it make you feel better that the shirt was pink?"

He felt a vein pop, "FUCK NO!" he cried out, ignoring the yelp of shock that came from the guy who entered and who immediately dove back out.

The red head spent a good ten minutes yelling at his friend and spent another five minutes staying inside wondering how long it'll take to run home and change into something that's not pink.

Probably ten minutes, more or less.

He waited in the cubicle a while and when nobody came in for the last five or so minutes, he deemed it safe enough to leave.

He stuck his head out the bathroom door, earning himself a few stares and looks from passer-byers and looked around.

'Good, it's not crowded.' He stepped out and made sure that his back was to the wall at all times, he didn't care if he looked ridiculous while he was at it, as long as he wasn't thought to be 'flamin' gay'.

He considered killing his best friend the next time he saw him. He felt his cheeks flush in anger at the mere thought of that son of a bitch.

He didn't know, or more like couldn't remember, what pink looked like, but he knew he hated it. Hated it with a passion. Sometimes, he's happy that he's colorblind.

Somewhere in the middle of his 'walking' like a crab, he heard bright laughter and he turned his head to see that boy again. The boy with the bright hair and brilliant eyes.

And that smile…his knees almost buckled. Lucky for him, the wall helped support him.

The boy was walking with a girl, he didn't know who the girl was, but he couldn't care less.

He wasn't able to see the colors of the girl, which was pretty much a good thing, but he couldn't help but feel remotely jealous.

He cursed at the stupid shirt that he was wearing which made himself more gay than he actually was.

He was sort of glad that the boy didn't see him in all his pink glory, but at the same time, he wished those brilliant eyes were on him.

Once the boy and the girl, he sincerely hoped it wasn't his girlfriend, was gone and out of sight, he quickly darted off in the opposite direction to his home.

He was definitely going to kill Demyx later on. Or castrate him with something sharp and pointy.

* * *

(Sobs) I can't seem to add in more things without being too…what's that word? I have no idea, well…whatever. I hope you enjoyed it regardless.

Anyways, here's the deal. (Ahem) I _may_ or _may not_ be going to Aussie for about…let's say 10 or so days. During that time, I _may _or _may not_ be able to update. You understand right? Hahaha. Cheers…


	4. Bells

Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas

This has multiple side pairings as well, but they don't have a big part in the story. Lols. Have a good read.

Oh my fucking gosh...FF (dot) net was so fucked...I couldn't upload ANYTHING. And I tried for HOURS. HOURS! And then, eventually, I gave up, and went to bed and hoped it would be ok by tomorrow, (which is now today).

* * *

The fluttering of book pages could be heard throughout the quiet halls of the library. Sometimes, hushed whispers from students, the mechanical noises of the photocopying machine, or the soft whirrs from the computers mixed in with everything else in a harmonious flow along with the footsteps of students and people passing by with the opening and closing of the electronic doors. 

A boy sat by himself on a round table, close to the entrance and exit of the library, which was littered with papers, booklets, texts books, work books, note books and library books.

He occasionally flipped to a marked chapter, a blue tag for chapter five, of his text book for references, wrote them down in his own words and tried to finish off as much of his assignment as he could do in one sitting.

Someone tapped on his shoulder and he turned around to be greeted by a familiar person.

"Working hard, I see." The boy spoke in a quiet voice and smiled as he ran his fingers through his periwinkle colored hair and exposed the other side of his face for a brief moment.

Roxas smiled and replied in an equally quiet voice, "Yeah, I was doing my assignment last night but I had to come back here today to have a look through a couple of text books." He spoke as he tried to clear up some of the mess of booklets and papers off to one side of the table so that the other boy could have a bit of space for himself.

Once the table was left in an almost neat state and the other boy sat down in one of the other three free chairs, the blond decided to take a break from his work for a little while as he chatted with the other university student. They talked about their course, and the blond couldn't help but fire one question after another to Zexion the Diploma student for Literature.

He asked how hard it was and whether it was enjoyable or not.

Zexion doesn't complain about the course, since he enjoys the class very much, although there're a few people who would think otherwise.

Roxas doesn't quite understand and the slate haired boy took into liberty of elaborating for the blond.

"It's not the kind of course you should do if you don't have a drive for it." he explained and gave an example of how one guy only did it because he didn't get to hand in a portfolio in time for graphics design.

Roxas finally nodded his head in understanding and wondered if this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

He didn't get to dwell on it too long before he suddenly remembered that his class started over ten minutes ago, as indicated by the clock that hung on the wall, and quickly started packing his things away and apologized repeatedly.

"I'll put the books back for you." The slate haired boy offered as he picked up the library books on the table as the blond stuffed in the last booklet into his messenger bag.

"Really?" he snapped his head up to the other while he swung his shoulder strap over his head, "Thanks a bunch." He smiled as he hastily ran out of the library and waved back. "I'll see you-" the blond couldn't finish what he wanted to say when he accidentally bumped into a person.

He looked up to see the red head again and apologized as he tried to make a side step, unfortunately the red head had been trying to get out of the way as well, but ended up making the situation just that little bit worse.

Finally, the blond laughed as he held onto the red head's arms to stop him from blocking his way, even if it was unintentional, made another quick apology to the red head and rushed away to the class that he was late to by fifteen minutes all the while trying to avoid collision with other people as he raced down the hallway.

* * *

The red head couldn't believe his eyes, not only did the boy bump into him again, apologized and smiled at him again, but he _also laughed_ at him. 

The laugh that almost sounded like the bells of Notre Dame.

He really wondered if he should switch to literature.

Although he had been trying to get out of the kid's way but he still _laughed_ at him regardless.

He could feel his heart thump rapidly in his chest against his rib cage again, he could feel his blood rush to his face, which made him feel warm and fuzzy. And happy.

Really, genuinely, happy.

Or it could be heat stroke. It _was_ in the middle of summer after all.

But he preferred to think that the cupid finally struck an arrow of love at him.

Axel watched as the brightly colored boy disappeared down the hallway in a rush, he hazarded a guess that he was late to something, and then turned to the slate haired boy who was staring at him rather worriedly.

Without missing a beat, he had already dashed to where the other boy was, who was still holding onto a couple of library books and demanded with a rough shake of the shoulders to tell him who that kid was just now.

"He's the one!" he cried out a little too loudly in the library, a few people hushed at him but he continued on with a quiet whisper, "He's the one Zexion! He's the one I see color with!" he got a little over-excited and continued on shaking the slate haired boy who had dropped the books back on the table and was trying to pry the red head's hands off him.

"R-Roxas?" he tried to speak normally in between the shakes.

"You know him?" he stopped and he widened his eyes even further. "You _have_ to introduce me to him!" his face was stuck in a permanent grin, "You have no idea how happy that would make me!"

Zexion finally managed to get the red head's hands away from him and tried to straightened his clothes out, "I don't know when I'll see him again, but if I do, I'll ask him if he wants to grab a drink or something." He frowned a little when he noticed that the creases on his shirt weren't going away.

"That would make me the happiest man alive!" he snatched up the shorter boy in a bone crushing hug. "Zexy! I love you!"

The slate haired boy sputtered and blushed in embarrassment as he tried to fend off the red head.

A couple of girls walked passed and giggled at the sight, saying 'how cute' they were as a couple.

"As a friend, you know that right?" he smiled sheepishly as he released the slate haired boy and watched as the other gave up trying to smooth out his shirt and picked up the books on the table.

"Of course." He held back a scoff as he looked at the book spine for the numbers of which to return the books to.

"Were you studying with him?" he asked as he peered over to the books.

"Yes, we both take the same subject, different levels though."

"He takes literature too?"

Now, this is the moment where Axel _really_ considered taking up Literature and dumping his stupid, boring Business Economics.

He was unaware that he had zoned out until somebody snapped their fingers in front of his face.

"Axel, would you please be an idiot in your own time? You're an embarrassment to all man kind." Zexion scoffed as he gingerly placed the books back on the shelves.

The red head smiled sheepishly and apologized.

Somewhere behind them, a couple of girls were giggling and the red head turned around and spotted them. The two girls, one blonde and one brunette immediately waved and said, "We're fine." Before walking away in another fit of giggles.

The red head shook his head in confusion and turned back to the slate haired boy who was putting away the last book.

What made the girls react that way? He had absolutely no idea why.

Unless…

"Hey Zex…what color is my shirt?" he asked curiously.

"It's purple." The other replied without looking up to regard the red head.

Axel frowned as he pulled at the hem and tried to see if anything was written on the front, "…Is there anything on my back?" he asked as he turned around.

Zexion quirked up an eyebrow and scanned the words that was written in large, bold letters of almost the same color as the shirt, "How you doin'?" he almost laughed but remembered he was still in the library, so he kept his voice down, "Did you let Demyx pick the shirt for you again?"

The red head cursed and considered turning the shirt inside out right there and then, "That's the last time I _ever_ let Demyx shop for me again." He scowled and proceeded to walk like a crab again with his back to the shelves of books.

When Zexion brought up the subject of the boy again, Axel's face went from a scowl to a smile in less than one second and was stuck in a near-permanent grin.

And it wasn't until the red head left to go to his afternoon class, with a small skip in his step and his purple shirt plus lame pick-up line forgotten, that the slate haired boy remembered that he's got Roxas' phone number saved in his mobile.

Oh wells, there's always a next time.

* * *

Oh my (guh)…Why? Why, why, why?! Why must my sister's TV be taken away from her room and why must she start using the TV in the living room? I couldn't _think_! 

Anyways! I'm going to Aussie for like...12 days...So like...I can't update. (Last update for a while la...)Probably won't be able to update, but if I can, I'll steal a computer with internet access and what not. Lols...I'll...see you guys in...12 days...Merry Christmas in advance! (I'm coming back on the 26th...)


	5. Musical Shakespeare

Not everything in life comes in black and white. Axel x Roxas

This has multiple side pairings as well, but they don't have a big part in the story. Lols. Have a good read.

This chapter focuses on Zexion and Demyx! It doesn't have a particular effect on the story itself, and you can skip it without getting lost, I think…so yeah…

Read and enjoy.

P.S – Halleluiah I am BACK!!!! WOOT WOOT! (dances around the room) And the first thing I do when I got back? I unpacked a little (as in give out presents and yaddi yadda) and then I zoomed onto the computer. Lols. Anyways! Thanks for your patience and so on! It's much appreciated!

You people have no idea how horribly deprived I was of my beloved computer and internet and writing…(cries)

* * *

Zexion, is a second year student studying in HBU (Hollow Bastion University) in a quest to complete his two year university course of Diploma for Literature.

His goals for the future include graduating with honors or distinction from the Diploma level and getting his Masters.

He also wants to write a novel in three different languages. He speaks English, French and Japanese fluently and thinks of taking up Spanish sometime in the future. So it might turn into a novel in four different languages rather than three.

He harbors secret feeling for his best friend, but doesn't want to risk their friendship for something more.

But, that's not where the story starts off.

* * *

The scribbles of ink on paper could be heard throughout the quiet halls of the library. The articulate strokes sounded almost like music as the holder continued to complete his work designated by their teacher from his last lecture class.

Sometimes the rustle of paper being flipped would be punctuated through the repetitive music every once in a while.

He worked quietly and slowly, and made sure that his work was perfect and flawless and without a single mistake.

During his streak of absolute concentration, somebody landed a hand on his shoulder and distracted him from his work for a short moment and he turned his head to be greeted by a familiar sight.

"Hey Zexy," the other boy greeted him with a quiet, library voice. "I need some help."

The said person smiled as he watched the other boy sit in the free chair beside him. "With what?" he asked as he placed his pen down and ignored his work in favor of the other boy.

"I've got this assignment to do." He started and the slate haired boy nodded his head in understanding and waited for him to continue, "I have to compose two pieces of music for a single instrument."

This was the part that confused the slate haired boy.

This had nothing to do with his particular field of choice. Sure, Zexion liked music, but he didn't know much about composing them. He's only ever played one instrument, which was the xylophone.

But that was way back in kindergarten. _Way_ back.

"And…you need my help with?" he raised his visible eyebrow at the dirty haired blond who fidgeted in front of him.

"Um…well, you're good with words." He reasoned as he sat cross legged on the chair and started to drum a rhythm on the leg of his pants.

"Are you…asking me to…help you with the lyrics?" he asked with a bit of uncertainty in his voice while the dirty haired blond immediately started to nod his head with a wide smile on his face.

Demyx was more than capable of doing it himself. Zexion was sure of it. Would even bet his whole entire savings on the boy who sat in front of him. Which was a pretty, hefty amount he had saved over the last how many years.

Sure, Zexion liked music, but he wouldn't be able to make up the words for it. Sure, he liked poetry, but that was something completely different to music.

"I don't think-" he was just about to decline when the blond suddenly dove into his bag and pulled out a couple pieces of papers and handed it to him.

"Have a look at these and tell me what you think ok? Please?" he begged as the other took the papers and glanced at them for a short moment. "I just wanna know what you think of them."

"Yeah, sure. I can do that." He nodded his head and agreed. 'For a second there, I thought he wanted me to compose lyrics.' He laughed awkwardly in his head, which made him sound a little bit pathetic.

The dirty haired blond watched with anticipation as the slate haired boy read over the lyrics of one song once, then twice, and then left it aside to begin on the other piece.

After what felt like half an hour, Zexion looked up from the papers and handed it back to the other with a soft smile on his face, "It's nice," this comment made the dirty haired blond deflate just a little, "I wish I could hear it instead of just reading it."

Demyx immediately widened his eyes in surprise and smiled as he hopped out of his chair, "We can go over to the music department now if you want, I can play the song for you." He offered as he took the papers back and placed it into his dark blue messenger bag with odd patches and various badges.

"Sure," he nodded and immediately started to pack his things away, "What instrument are you playing on? Electric lead guitar? Piano? Violin?" he couldn't help but smirk.

The other boy immediately shushed him, "Hey, you're not supposed to say that word."

"What? The fact that you could play the-" he watched with mild interest as the other started to flail his arms about.

"Nobody knows I play the violin other than you and Axel, ok? It's embarrassing."

"You have talent, embrace it." he smiled as he finished putting his books away and closed the flap of his bag. "I wish I learnt how to play the piano when I was younger."

The blond widened his blue eyes at the compliment and smiled, "I can teach you, if you want." Demyx offered as he followed the other boy out.

As they walked down the hallways where various students walked and talked, Zexion calculated the amount of time that he would normally spend to study at the university library and at home, the time he usually spend in the library helping out other fellow literature students with their homework and assignments, the amount of time he would spend revising the subject and go through his mountain of notes in the weekends, the upcoming homework, new assignments, possible exams and pop-quizzes.

He couldn't really afford to take up a new subject/obsession so soon into the new semester.

"Sure, that would be great." Zexion agreed none the less. A challenge would be nice.

"Oh, and Zex?"

"Yes Demyx."

"You have talent too, I wish I could write as well as you do." He smiled as they walked out of the automatic sliding doors into the bustle of the university campus outside.

"Your talent in writing comes in the form of a song." He complimented again. "That counts as something too."

"That first bit sounded like Shakespeare." Demyx smiled sheepishly as he scratched his cheek with a long, callous finger, "Thanks Zex, you always make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"Pleasure to have helped my friend." He smiled and repeated the last two words in his head just to confirm it with himself.

The walk to the music department was a short but enjoyable moment for the two university students. The dirty haired blond was the one to fill in all the silence with random words and with the occasional input from the slate haired boy.

As they walked towards the department for music studies, Demyx started to stray himself from the main reason of why they were going there in the first place. Zexion thought it was rather unusual of the blond to be getting cold feet. Especially about something as important as a composing assignment.

More than once, Demyx asked if the slate haired boy wanted to get something to eat first. And when Zexion declined, the blond tried again by asking if he wanted to get ice cream, or smoothies, or maybe a snack.

A beer maybe?

"Demyx, is there something wrong?"

The said person snapped his head towards the other and replied almost a little too hastily, "What? Wrong? No." he laughed awkwardly at this point then cleared his throat and tried again, "No. Nothing's wrong. You know, I'm just concerned if you haven't eaten yet."

"I ate during my lunch break." His raised his eyebrow just a little at the blonds' somewhat odd behavior.

"Oh right, lunch break. Yeah." He ran his fingers through his hair and averted his eyes back to the path.

Once they reached the building, the dirty haired blond went over towards his locker and started turning the dial of his combination lock. Zexion was a little green-eyed at the fact that Demyx's locker could probably fit in an electric guitar or two quite comfortably.

But after he debated about it with himself, he realized that he wouldn't be able to occupy all of its space if he owned such a big locker.

Musicians have more use for large lockers than a literature student such as himself. Unless he decided to take out 30 books from the library in one go. Which only happened once. But that was when he was a very young teenager and he got a little too overenthusiastic about his first library card that his mother allowed him to get.

Ah, the stresses of trying to read 30 books in a span of two weeks. It was literally an eye-sore.

Back to the locker room, Demyx closed his locker door shut after he took out a couple of music books and stuck in his messenger bag, but not before he took out his music compositions, and then walked over to the instrument store room where he went to a specific corner and found his acoustic guitar. Which, by the way, was just a tad too big for the locker

Pity that…

The dirty haired blond managed to find himself one of the many soundproof rooms of the department which was empty and allowed the slate haired boy to go on in before he closed the door.

"Don't laugh at me ok?" Demyx pouted as he pulled one stool over to the middle of the room and sat on it.

Zexion smiled a little as he brought another stool over towards the blond and sat down.

"I mean it." he warned as he started tuning his guitar, "I see you smiling, next thing I know is that you're gonna be laughing at me."

"I'll start laughing if you keep looking at me like that." His lips quirked up a little higher as he took in the pouty blond sitting in front of him.

"Fine." He turned away from the slate haired boy and continued fiddling around with the strings until it got to the right sound. "Ok, this one is called 'Vulnerable'." He plucked a couple more strings before he got himself ready and started playing.

He missed his queue to start the first time around and he stuttered out an apology in an uncharacteristic way. "S-sorry."

"It's ok." The slate haired boy nodded and watched as the dirty haired blond try again.

He let out a shaky breath started singing in a quiet voice, "Share with me the blankets that you're wrapped in,  
Because it's cold outside, it's cold outside."

Demyx took in a deep breath and sang again in a stronger voice, "Share with me the secrets that you kept in,  
Because it's cold inside, its cold inside."

"And your slowly shaking finger tips,  
Show that you're scared like me so,  
Let's pretend we're alone." He brought his eyes up from his fingerings and sang as he looked into Zexion's eyes.

"And I know you may be scared,  
And I know we're unprepared,  
But I don't care." He smiled as he looked back at his fingers and continued playing as he sang. Zexion couldn't help but wish those words were meant for him.

After the first song was finished, they talked about it for a little while before Demyx started to play around on his acoustic guitar to get ready for the second song.

"This one is called 'Maybe'. It's supposed to be played with two guitars, but one is ok too." He smiled as he continued to sturm on the guitar, and occasionally shifted his fingers for the next chord.

"Didn't you want to hear,  
The sound of all the places we could go." Demyx sang with a smile on his face,

"Do you fear,  
The expressions on the faces we don't know.  
It's a cold hard road when you wake up,  
And I don't think that I,  
Have the strength to let you go."

In the end of the second song, Demyx leaned over kissed Zexion on his lips who is left, for the first time in his life, completely speechless and inarticulate.

* * *

Demyx is a second year university student of HBU (Hollow Bastion University) and is just starting his first semester in the Diploma of Music after completing his one year Certificate course for Music.

He works at a part time job at a quaint café not five minutes away from the campus as a waiter and sometimes sings for entertainment while playing on his acoustic guitar that he will sometimes to seen carrying around.

Music is his passion, but cooking is almost like second nature to him.

He thinks he should go for Culinary Arts once he's graduated from the Diploma level. Most of his friends encourage him, mainly because they'll probably be getting free food from him.

He likes a certain person, his best friend in fact, but is too afraid and shy to say anything.

But you know how that came out.

After all, actions speak louder than words. But it also works in the form of a song.

* * *

Aww… 


	6. The Mentions of Food

I was feeling unmotivated, but, after a moment of rest, (And some food!!!) I was ready to go at this story again. Lols.

Anyways, it's back to the main couple of Axel and Roxas. Read and enjoy.

* * *

A blond boy tapped his fingers in a rhythmic pattern on top of the tables that littered the sitting area of the quad. He had already finished his class for the day and was waiting for a certain someone to join him.

He eyed the black folder bag that rested beside him and he breathed in through his nose and sighed through his mouth with a small huff.

He would usually leave the folder bag in his locker along with the other things he would normally leave behind, but today, he received a text from a certain blonde girl with the invitation to join her in the park.

She needed to do a small impromptu assignment that her teacher gave to the class and they needed to hand it in tomorrow.

At first, she had told him that she wouldn't be able to meet up with him as planned, and told him that he could head on home first. But he didn't mind and insisted that he'll stay behind with her.

Of course, that prompted the invitation.

So now he waited in the quad with his folder bag that was a little bigger than an A3 piece of paper that included two A4 sized and one A3 sized sketchbooks, a pencil case that had one 2b pencil, one 6b pencil, one hb pencil and an eraser.

Sometimes, Namine would go over to the park to draw something and invite Roxas to tag along with her.

Other times, Namine would go with another one of her classmates while Roxas take the earlier bus home.

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to be greeted by the blonde that he had just been thinking about.

"Hey Roxas, sorry I made you wait." she smiled apologetically.

"I didn't wait too long." He smiled as he got up from his seat and picked up his other bag, "Shall we go?"

"Yup." She nodded and started walking in the direction of the park with the blond boy right beside her.

"So, what's this assignment about?" he asked as they maneuvered around, occasionally bumping shoulders every once in a while.

"I have to draw two seasons on the same page."

"Seasons huh? Which seasons are you going to draw?" he asked as they walked down the hallways towards the other side of the campus.

"Well," she started as she placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "I like the new budding flowers of spring, and I love the colors of autumn."

"Ah, ok. I get it. So does it have to be in color or black and white?"

"We can choose to do either." She spoke as she walked through the sliding doors into the second busiest part of the school on the way to the park.

Roxas sighed, which gained the attention of the blonde. "I don't get how your teacher can suddenly give you impromptu assignments out of nowhere. Especially when you already have another one to begin with."

She giggled behind her hand, "She said it'll help us with our assignment, since it's originally about drawing nature or something that's still life."

"Ok, whatever you say." They both reached the park within minutes and started looking around for a good spot of which to sit at.

They found a spot in between the sun and the shade of a tree.

Roxas watched as Namine looked up at a particular tree just a few yards away with a pencil poised over her sketchbook, ready to start. And as soon as she made her first stroke, she was oblivious to the rest of the world.

The blond watched her a little longer before he decided to get started on something as well and took out his own A3 sketchbook and pencil case.

He sat with his legs crossed, his book flipped to a fresh new page and a sharp yet blunt pencil over on one side. He casually looked around his surroundings, a pigeon or two here, a piece of rubbish there, a couple of students that were lying in the sun with a book or a cover over their eyes somewhere else.

He let out a silent sigh and then his eyes spotted a particular student who was out in the sun, hunched over a book with a look of concentration on his face.

The student looked interesting to him, so he started sketching him out, and occasionally looked up to catch another glimpse of the student before he looked back down to record what he saw in the form of a drawing.

* * *

Previously…

* * *

Before the red head left the apartment that morning with a piece of jam toast in his mouth, he made sure to check everything he was going to wear before putting it on. It took a little bit of concentration but he doesn't mind as long as he doesn't walk around with a shirt that describes his sexual orientation or has a horrible pick up line printed on it.

After going through his entire wardrobe, he found a basket full of unwanted clothes. A basket's worth of wasted money. That's the last time Axel will ever let Demyx shop for him again. _Ever_.

During the walk from the apartment to university, he didn't notice any strange looks or giggles directed to him. So he felt assured that he picked a good color today. It looked like a black shirt from his point of view, he could only hope that he was right about it.

From everybody else's point of view, it could've been purple.

By the time he made his stop at his locker and walked over to his lecture room, his class was just about ready to start.

That is…If he had a class to begin with.

He was greeted by a fellow classmate who looked a little forlorn and disappointed, "Hey Axel, our professor ended up getting a horrible case of food poisoning from some café he ate at. So we won't be having any classes until further notice." She sighed as she adjusted her glasses.

"Really? That's a shame." He tried not to smile. He had planned on skipping the day, but he figured that he should at least make an attempt to attend class.

"Yeah…" she sighed again, "But he asked us to review our notes and go through some exercises while he's away."

"Ok, sure, I can do that." He felt a little disappointed he didn't get to see his teacher being hauled away by paramedics. He wondered if he walked past any ambulances today. "Guess I'll see you around Quis." He waved and started to walk back the way he came.

"It's Quis_tis_!" she called out but the red head merely laughed.

After he dropped off a couple of heavy textbooks into his locker, he decided that a trip to the park would be nice.

The sun was out, the birds were singing, the breeze was cool. It was a very nice weather. It would've been perfect if he could see a smidgen of color or two.

He decided to read through his notes and other things in the park and get some fresh air while he was at it.

He looked around and noticed all the shady areas were taken up by some other students who got there before he did. But he decided to settle down a little ways away from the shade. He needed to get a bit of a tan as well. Add some color to his pale skin.

Demyx told him he needed it. But the red head wasn't quite sure if he should believe his words.

Oh wells, it's not like he'll stay out in the sun for hours on end.

Within minutes, he started to get into the pace of reading word after word, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, chapter after chapter.

When a half hour passed, he felt the effects of reading get to his eyes. They were starting to sting just a little. He squeezed them shut and rubbed the lids with his thumb and forefinger, in an effort to alleviate some of the pain.

His vision blurred when he opened his eyes again, the words in the book looked something akin to black smudges and when he looked up, he noticed that the scenery was dull and did nothing to help.

He let out a sigh and was about to pack his books away when he saw something flash from the corner of his eye and when he turned to see whatever it was, he couldn't believe his luck.

It was him again. In all his bright, brilliant glory. He had never seen anything so…beautiful.

His bright hair, his brilliant eyes, and his soft colored skin.

He felt his throat go dry.

The boy glanced up and widened his eyes in shock when he noticed the red head watching him.

Axel smiled and waved and the boy shyly waved back before looking back down with a look of embarrassment. The red head thought it looked kind of cute.

He was just about to get up and walk over to the kid when he noticed the girl tap the boy on the shoulder, gaining his attention and they started talking.

Axel couldn't exactly read what they were saying. He wished he sort of knew how. But they were too far away anyway.

After they exchanged a small conversation, the boy finally nodded, packed away his own things and was about to leave the park with the girl but not before he gave the red head another wave.

Axel felt his heart flutter.

Just as they disappeared from view, his phone started to play a familiar ring tone which made him come back to the real world and killed his good mood. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and didn't bother to look at the caller ID.

"What." He answered a little too harshly.

A nervous voice sounded from the other side, "Err…I was gonna ask if you wanna get some lunch but if you're busy-"

"I'm not busy." He sighed as he closed his eyes again, "My class got cancelled because my lecturer got food poisoning." He almost laughed out loud at the thought of his teacher stopping in the middle of something important because of a tummy ache.

He heard the voice from the other side laugh, "Seriously? Damn." There was another snort of laughter, "Anyways, do you wanna meet my sis?"

"Your sister?" he asked incredulously, "I don't remember you having a sister."

"You don't? I've talked about her a few times, she's got blonde hair and blue eyes, same as me."

"Demyx…" he warned.

"Oh right, you're colorblind. I always forget."

"Yeah, fuck you Dem." He rolled his eyes as he graciously stuffed his books into his messenger bag, stood up from the ground and dusted the grass off.

"I'm sorry! I really did forget!"

Axel could hear him smiling, why the nerve of that…so-called friend of his. Why must the world curse him so…? Curse him with colorblindness and stupid, retarded friends that never gave him any sympathy or showed a slight amount of apathy. Really, was it too much to ask for a little love?

The person on the other side started talking again, with an air of guilt, "I'll treat you to lunch. As an apology ok?"

"You can't buy me with free food you know?" he retorted, although the mention of food did suddenly spur on his hunger.

"At least come to meet my sister ok? We're down at the mid-city food court. Where all the different styles of cuisines are."

"Yes chef." He sighed with a smile as he started for his new destination.

A laughter, "Hey, that really sounds good…Maybe I _should_ take up Culinary Arts after this whole Music Diploma thing blows over."

"Yes chef, whatever you say chef." He smirked as he walked off the grassy area onto the gravel pathway.

"Aw Axel, you're making me blush."

"I'll see you in a bit." He rolled his eyes as he hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

His mind was a blissful blur as he walked down the pathway.

All he could think about was the boy with bright hair like the sun and brilliant eyes that shine in the dark.

* * *

I needed absolute silence when I was working on this chapter. Why? Because I got distracted by my music…It only happens like every once in a while, which is strange because half of the time, I don't even listen to it. Lols. 


	7. Coincidence or Conspiracy?

This chapter starts off _before_ Roxas saw Axel looking at him. Just a foreword so you won't get confused. Lols.

* * *

He had never seen anybody with that shade of red for hair before, he wondered if it was natural or if that guy decided to dye his hair to that color for the thrill of it.

Even so, that guy must've used a hell of a whole lot to get it to that particular color. And his hair was a pretty long length as well.

The blond cringed a little at that thought and wondered how badly damage the other guy's nose was.

Sora, his cousin, tried to dye his hair to black once. It wasn't really that funny. The smell was revolting and head-ache inducing.

His cousin failed to get his hair from blond to black, but he did sort of succeed in making his best friend, Riku, turn into a skunk. Sora got a little too over-excited and the black dye spilled over to his hair (which was silver or a platinum blond color) and even though he tried to wash it off immediately, it still managed to get stuck on.

Riku was positively murderous, but he had a forgiving heart, sort of.

Roxas didn't get to dwell on the past for too long until he looked back up and saw the red head watching him. He felt his cheeks redden and vaguely wondered if this is what it felt like to be caught red handed.

The red head smiled and waved, and slowly, he raised his own hand in a sort of awkward greeting.

He looked back down at his half completed picture and wondered if it was still ok to draw him out.

Just as he was about to add another stroke to the sketch, somebody tapped his shoulder and he looked behind him to see Namine putting her mobile away.

"Hey Roxas, do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Without looking away from her, he closed his sketchbook.

"My brother wants to meet up with me since he just finished his classes for the day as well."

Roxas vaguely remembered her brother. Tall guy, weird hair-do, dirty blond hair and blue eyes, smiles non-stop. He's only met him a few times before but he reckoned that her brother would get along very well with his cousin. "Yeah, sounds cool." He nodded and started to pack away his things.

"He's bringing a few friends along too, is that ok?" she smiled as she pulled up her shoulder bag.

"The more the merrier right?" he smiled as he got up and started walking. But before he got too far, he looked over his shoulder and gave the red head one more wave.

There was something…interesting about him. And it wasn't just the hair color either.

* * *

Axel heard bright laughter again and he cracked his neck three times when he snapped his head to find its location. He wondered if the boy was anywhere near by as he looked around. He saw a blur of bright colors.

The boy was a lot closer than he though, considering that he was sitting right next to that girl, with their backs to him, who was sitting right across Demyx who was sitting next to Zexion.

The boy with his hair partially covering his face looked up and motioned for the red head to join them. The other who sat beside him immediately joined in, except that he was waving with such big motions, he almost had a passer-by spill his lunch all over for the floor to enjoy.

The two other students, possibly younger by the looks of it, turned around to look at whoever the others were waving at. The girl smiled and waved while the boy greeted him with a look of mixed surprise and embarrassment.

He was right about the kid, he really looked cute like that.

"Hey guys." The red head walked up to them and held up his hand in a sign of greeting and he sincerely hoped that he didn't sound too awkward.

"Hey Axel," the dirty haired blond grinned, "This is Namine." He introduced the girl sitting across him who looked up with a small, kind smile.

"Hello." She nodded her head once in acknowledgement.

"And this is Roxas," Zexion introduced the other boy, "You've bumped into him a couple of times." There was a hint of a smirk on his face.

The said person laughed nervously as he got up from his seat and extended his hand while the other scratched behind his head, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's all good." Axel grinned as he took the offered hand and shook it. He felt his heart hammer away in his chest the more he looked into those eyes. He had never seen such vibrant colors before in his life. Not for a long as he could remember.

His brilliant eyes really were a sight to behold.

And when Axel looked down at the soft colored skin, he almost frowned when it contrasted with the pale gray colors of his own hand.

He should've been used to it by now.

"Hey Axel, do you wanna grab something to eat? We've already ordered ours." Demyx grinned as he broke apart his wooden chopsticks and picked up some udon noodles.

"Roxas, could you buy me some odango please?" the girl asked as she took her purse out from her shoulder bag and handed some money over to the boy.

"Sure, I can do that." He nodded as he took the money and looked back up to the red head, "What are you planning on ordering?"

"Er…" Axel suddenly didn't feel very hungry, but he didn't want to be the odd one out either. "Japanese I guess?" he offered with a shrug.

"Ok then, let's go." He smiled as he walked towards the sushi shop to the far side of the food court.

'Roxas.' He really liked the way his name sounded. He's heard it once before but he never really thought about it until now. 'Roxas.'

"Yes?"

"Oh er…" he couldn't believe he said his name out loud, although he had to admit, he liked the way it rolled off his tongue, "How did er…how did you and the others meet?" it was the best he could think of at the moment.

"Well," he started as he grabbed a plastic plate from the stack, a pair of metal tongs and proceeded to pick up a couple of the mentioned foods that Namine requested, "I needed some help with an English assignment of mine and I went o the library for help, they paired me up with Zexion."

The red head nodded as he started picking up pieces of foods as well, "What about Demyx?"

"Namine introduced us before," He spoke as he watched the red head put some purple (maybe red) looking dessert on his plate and some green (yup, that's green alright) looking dessert. "We sometimes go and eat lunch together after class but today's my first time meeting up with you." he watched with interest as Axel picked up some unagi sushi along with some chicken and salmon. "Are you seriously gonna eat that?" he finally asked as he held onto his own plate of food.

"What?" he looked at his plate, they all looked good to him, despite the lack in color, "They taste good."

The blond didn't look convinced.

"Really, I insist." He grinned as he walked up to the counter, placed the pair of tongs back into the bucket and paid for his food.

"Maybe next time." Although that was highly unlikely.

They spent about an hour chatting to each other, taking their time with their lunches as they talked about almost anything ranging from literature, to arts, to music, to business economics and the random topic of movies and what not.

Once they finished eating, Namine volunteered to take their bowls, plastic plates and whatever's to the food and trash station and Roxas went along with her. While the two were off, leaving behind their personal belongings to be looked after, Demyx and Zexion took this opportunity to pester the red head about a certain boy.

"So?" the bubbly blond couldn't contain his face-cracking smile, "Did you see color?"

"He's…beautiful…" Axel replied as though his breath had been taken away. "I never knew an angel actually exists." He spoke as he watched the boy talk to the girl from afar.

Demyx and Zexion stared at each other for a moment then turned their attentions back to the day dreaming red head. After Axel emitted another dreamy sigh, the other two stared at each other again and nodded their heads simultaneously.

'He's lovesick.'

The red head had to stop staring at the boy and reverted back to normal once the other two returned to the table.

They stayed for a little while longer before they decided that it was getting pretty dark and that the last express bus was going to leave the city stop in about ten minutes. They did their farewells and made their departure and finally left their separate ways. Demyx left with Namine to catch the bus back home while Zexion walked with Axel back to their campus apartment some ten minutes walk away. Roxas took a different route back to who knows where.

Somehow, over the course of the next few days, both Namine and Roxas were regularly invited to go somewhere for something to eat somewhere in the city.

Sometimes, Demyx wouldn't be able to make it because of a musical rehearsal, band practice or some random thing his teacher decided to make the class do.

Sometimes, Zexion wouldn't be able to make it because he needed to help some literature student in the library.

Sometimes, Namine wouldn't be able to make it because she needed to stay behind to get some extra help from her teacher or to give some extra help to her fellow classmates.

But both Axel and Roxas met every single time.

"How is it that I always end up meeting you somewhere?" Roxas asked as he paid for his dessert at the counter of an ice cream shop.

The red head stared at the pale, almost see-through dessert and shrugged, "Coincidence?" he offered weakly.

Axel loved meeting with the boy, it made his life so much brighter and more exciting.

"I can't believe Namine, Zexion _and_ Demyx couldn't meet up today. It's weird." He spoke as he thanked the cashier and took his ice cream.

"Yeah," he laughed weakly, "If I didn't know any better, I would've said that they were planning something."

"A conspiracy?"

"Possibly."

They laughed and finally the red head turned to the cashier, "Can I get what he's getting please?"

After receiving the cold treat, he paid and they sat at the same table where they first met each other. Axel cringed upon taking his first bite, "Holy-What is this?!"

"It's sea salt ice cream, haven't you ever tried it?" he asked as he took another bite.

"No…" his eye twitched as he stared at the pale dessert in his hand.

"Don't like it?"

"It's weird, I'll give it that." He quirked up an eyebrow as he continued staring at the ice cream.

"But it tastes good." He grinned, "Really, I insist."

The red head chuckled and gave in, after a few more cringes, he got use to the taste.

After that meeting, they ended up trading numbers. And it wasn't until a little later in the week that they found out their classes finish in sync with each other's.

They still wondered it if was a conspiracy or if it was just sheer coincidence.

But regardless of what was going on, the red head had never felt so happy in his whole entire life.

* * *

See?? (Or maybe not) I could work perfectly with music during this chapter! Why didn't it work last time? Oh wells. Lols.

I'm sure you all know what udon is, unagi is eel, quite nice, don't knock it till you've tried it. But as for odango, it can also be said as dango, it's a sweet rice cake dessert. Very nice, but only if you buy it fresh. Lols.

Oh, and one more note, half way down to page 4, I was just curious about the word count and when it popped up, I almost laughed. (It's 11pm on a Thursday night, people are sleeping already) and it had 1337. What a crack up. I was wondering if I should leave it there or continue on with the plan. I went on regardless of what the word count said. Come on man, 1337. That's awesome…


	8. Chicken Boy

Ok, so like, last chapter, there was a bit of a problem with the alerts and shit. Oh wells. (I think anyways...)

But hoo boy, am I STUFFED! Roast dinner, totally made my day. Night…Crackling…Mmm…

* * *

A certain red head sighed as he fully leaned back on the swivel chair that he sat on. He brought his hand up to his forehead to ward away the oncoming headache after almost two hours of constant work revision. 

He pushed at the carpet using the soles of his feet and then propped his legs up on his work desk. He let out another tired sigh as he relaxed further into his seat and looked up at the plain ceiling.

It was his long-awaited weekend, but it was boring as hell. Sure, he got to sleep in an extra three or so hours, but there was still daylight to burn and no one to burn it with.

Demyx was busy doing 'something' with 'someone' and didn't have the time to hang around for the afternoon. The bastard…

Axel sucked in a breath and held it as he closed his eyes. He counted the ticks from his alarm clock and wondered how long he could hold his breath for.

He barely counted thirty seconds before his phone started vibrating and sang out a tune on his desk. He snapped out of his reverie and reassumed his normal position as he grabbed his phone, looked at the caller id and smiled before he picked up.

"Ello, ello, ello? Good evenin' gov'na?" he drawled out in a forced English accent.

His grin widened when he was rewarded with bright laughter coming from the other end, "It's the afternoon you weirdo."

Axel could almost imagine the roll of his beautiful eyes, "Come on Roxas, you're ruining my fun here." He whined half heartedly as he leaned on his desk with his elbows as support.

"If that's fun for you, then you must be extremely bored."

"Indeed I am." He smiled as he pushed his chair further back and stood up, "Perhaps you'd like to waste your valuable time on someone like me?"

"I'm a pretty charitable person,"

Axel laughed at the modesty as he shook his head in mild disbelief.

Roxas continued talking, "Yeah, sure. I just came out from the city library."

"Shit." The smile on his face suddenly dropped as he paused mid-way of putting his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans.

"What?" the red head could hear the urgency in the other's voice, "What is it?"

"I never knew."

"What?" Roxas raised his tone a little.

"I just," his lips tugged up into a small smile, "Never knew you were such a book worm." His straight face broke into a toothy grin and then he finally laughed into the phone.

"Shit man, I'm not in the charitable mood anymore, go screw yourself or something."

The red head sniffed and after he stuck his wallet into his back pocket, he ran his fingers through his hair as he walked out of his room towards the front door of his shared two bedroom apartment, "I was only joking."

"Yeah, and that lame joke just took away one year of my life, thank you very much."

"Ok, ok, I'll tell you what, I'll treat you to sea-salt ice cream, how's that for ya?" he offered as he slipped on his converse shoes and grabbed the keys to the apartment.

"Hmm…make that two and you've got a deal."

"Trying to rob a man blind?" he accused as he opened the door, stepped outside and made sure that the door was locked before leaving towards the elevator.

"Thing one, you're not really a man," Axel scoffed indignantly into his phone while Roxas continued, "Thing two, you're not blind."

"I _could_ be." He hinted in a rueful voice as he pushed the button for the elevator to go down.

They spent about the next five minutes talking on the phone as Axel walked closer to the library where Roxas said that he would wait.

It wasn't until they were five steps away when they finally decided to hang up.

"So, where to?" Roxas asked once the red head got close enough to hear.

The red head shrugged, "What do you feel like?"

"Don't know. I'm not really that-" cue the stomach growl. The blond blushed furiously.

Axel smiled at the sudden color going to Roxas' cheeks, "Oh yeah, you're not that hungry. Yup, don't wanna force you to eat now, do we?" he spoke sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

"S-shut up." He grabbed the cloth over his stomach and growled at it in a silent reprimand, "I didn't eat breakfast and I _was_ hungry, but then I _wasn't_ hungry anymore."

"So, what, you skipped breakfast, you were thinking of skipping lunch too?" he quirked up an eyebrow at the shorter boy, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're anorexic."

"Do I _look_ as skinny as you?" he retorted with a quirk of his own eyebrow.

"Ouch…" he held up his hands in defense, "Burn…" he looked mildly hurt, "I'll have you know that I am naturally skinny."

Roxas scoffed and started walking away to who knows where, "Let's just walk until we see something that catches our eyes."

"Dude, anything looks good when you're hungry." He reasoned as he walked beside the other boy.

"The same as how everything tastes good when you're starving."

"Different words, same meaning." He waved off the comment as they continued down the path into the bustling main part of the city.

The first food restaurant they walked past, they immediately entered. It was a Korean barbeque buffet lunch bar and they both ate to their heart's content and until their tummies were slightly bulging.

People that walked past thought they've must've either been very deprived or were living a very hard life.

They talked about various things that ranged from what they use to do as curricular activities after school in their last high school, what they wanted to be in the future when they were a mere eight years old, the odd question of when they got their chicken pox.

"It was definitely before I was three." The smaller boy thought back as he raised his glass of water and took a sip from it.

Axel pushed the odd piece of onion back and forth on his plate with his pair of chopsticks, "I don't think I've had chicken pox before."

Roxas almost choked on his drink and placed it back on the table and stared at him incredulously, "Seriously? Isn't that sort of dangerous?"

"Yeah," he laughed sheepishly, "But I didn't know back then." He reasoned with a wave of his hand, "Had I known, I would've gone straight up to Jimmy and hugged him like there was no tomorrow." He laughed at himself.

The boy raised an eyebrow, "Who's Jimmy?"

"Some kid I remember from kindergarten."

"Hmm." He decided to leave it at that.

"So, what were you doing in the library anyways?" Axel asked as he placed his eating utensils back on the plate and took a sip from his glass of water.

"Essays."

He raised his eyebrows, "Couldn't you have done them at home or something?"

"Too many distractions." He reasoned with a slight shrug of the shoulders.

"Oh yeah…I know how that is." He grinned as an old memory re-surfaced.

There was this one time, somewhere last year, back in his shared apartment, he was busy trying to complete an essay on how to explain in theory and practice the quantitative qualities of business economics. It was a horrible two-thousand word essay which was due the next day and he had about five hundred words left when his brother decided to throw a party and drag him into it.

Of course, he gave in when his brother's stupid friends stumbled into his room and wouldn't leave him alone until Axel joined them.

Even in his drunken state, he still managed to bullshit the last five hundred words and pass.

His thoughts were cut short when somebody snapped their fingers in front of his eyes, "Hey man, don't zone out like that." Roxas stared at him with concerned eyes.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Just remembered something." He laughed sheepishly.

Roxas merely rolled his eyes at the red head's behavior and Axel found that he really couldn't stop staring at the other boy.

"What? Do I have something stuck on my face?" the boy asked as he started wiping at his mouth and cheeks.

"Nah." He smiled as he shook his head and averted his eyes elsewhere.

Eventually, they paid for their meals, left the restaurant and spent the rest of the day in the city. They browsed through some random shops, Axel found himself a couple of studs and sleepers in a tattoo slash piercing parlor.

Roxas asked him when he got those tattoos under his eyes and the red head replied with a smirk that he started rebelling at the tender age of 15.

The boy rolled his eyes and couldn't quite imagine Axel as being the 'tender' 15 year old kid he said himself to be.

"You should get earrings too." The red head brought up as he picked up a particular pair of silver studs.

"Hell no." he answered almost immediately.

"What? You scared?" he smirked as he looked up from the display and looked at the boy.

"I don't see the point of getting them." He reasoned with a shrug.

Axel scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Don't see the point. Yeah right."

"Earrings won't look good on me. Seriously." He quirked up an eyebrow at the persistence that came from the red head.

"You haven't even tried."

"Because I know it won't look good on me."

"What about, if I get another one, you get one too." He suggested with a sly grin.

"What?" Roxas stared at him in disbelief and noticed that the red head's ears were dotted with various studs and sleepers.

"We both get one."

"Um…how about no." he raised an eyebrow at the suggestion of getting earrings, "I'm not getting earrings, ever. Conversation is over."

Axel sighed, "Ok, I see your mind's made up." He turned to the person behind the counter who obviously died his hair an unnatural shade of black and shaped in a mohawk, "Yo, hook me up with this." He tapped at the glass that separated the merchandise from the customer.

All in all, Axel bought two new pairs of silver sleepers. He wondered if he should get a pair of wings for tattoos on his back.

"What a sadist."

"Makes me feel alive." He smirked.

"There are plenty of other things to make you feel 'alive' or whatever." He quoted. "You don't need to feel pain to be 'alive'." He quoted and shook his head at the red head's sense of logic.

Axel looked at the boy thoughtfully and wholly agreed, "Yeah, you're right."

"When am I never?" Roxas smirked. A sweet smell wafted through the air and peaked his interests, "I smell cookies."

The red head stared at him with his mouth wide open, "Dude, we just had a buffet lunch."

"Time for dessert." He grinned as he pointed at the cookie shop two stores and a half away from them.

Axel shook his head in disbelief but didn't mind an extra sweet treat to compliment his lunch, "What about the sea salt ice cream?" he brought up without really thinking about it.

"Next time, right now, I'm in the mood for cookies." He grinned as he filed up behind a girl and got his wallet out.

After a couple of minutes of choosing, they each bought three cookies, all of different flavors and they each shared half. They spent the rest of the day together and it wasn't until the sky was an orange color did they decide to part ways and head on home.

Axel still had about two halves of cookies left in a small paper bag and he took it into his room, or lest they be eaten by his brother. He took out his keys and threw it on the table, along with his wallet.

He took out his phone and placed it down on his desk, but just as he was about to walk away, his eyes noticed something slightly different about it.

There was a new text message.

He never noticed that he received a message, must've been too distracted by the recent events of the day.

He picked it back up, pushed the button to enter the message and promptly froze on the spot.

'Guess who's in Hollow Bastion! See you Monday!'

And it was at that moment, Axel swore he lost about five years of his natural life and hoped that Monday wouldn't come.

Monday is gonna be like hell…

* * *

Lols, I feel bad for Axel…But DAMN, it is HARD to write them with different personalities after 'For a Change', (cries) forgive me! 

You may think this chapter is sort of like a filler, which it is, but my point is...(what was my point again?) Oh right. It's to show their slowly developing friendship. Ya got me?


	9. Skittish

I love AkuRoku…

Woot! Hoorah for early updates. Lawls.

* * *

A loud commotion was heard at the entrance of the university bar and all heads turned to the source of the noise. 

Axel visibly blanched and couldn't help but comment with a mild smirk, "Holy shit…It's the witch and her bitch…" the dirty haired blond and the guy with the ponytail snorted out in slight-drunken guffaws.

The last time he saw the two of them, they left a farewell present of painting his room in a light pink color which he wasn't able to differentiate from white (which was the room's original color) and that his entire wardrobe had turned into a ferocious pink, including his socks, boxers and the odd hat or two.

Of course, it didn't help that he was colorblind and his stupid lame excuse of an older brother didn't even bother to tell him and he didn't even realize until his brother's friend came over and quirked up an eyebrow at him and his choice of wear.

The girl settled her eyes on the group situated near the bar and smirked viciously as she walked closer to them with her companion in tow.

Her smirk turn into an almost far too innocent smile which sent shivers down the red head's spine, "Yeah, I missed you too jack-ass." She then gave him a good thwack on the head.

He winced and refused to return the sentiment, "Holiday down at Oblivion already?" the red head asked as he nursed his head with the side of his cool beer bottle.

The blonde snickered while her companion spoke for her, "Yup, we'll be here to wreck havoc on your useless, meaningless, colorless life Axel." The boy with the outrageously long hair smirked as he folded his arms across his chest. "Only for two weeks though."

"Sadistic bitches, leave a poor man alone, why don't ya…" the red head scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

"Man? I highly doubt that you're a man. But _I_ however, am a _real_ man." He unfolded his arms and placed a hand over his chest while the other wrapped itself around the girl's waist.

Axel snorted, "Pfft, Marluxia, a man? You have pink hair."

The said person narrowed his eyes at the red head, "Since when can you see color?"

Marluxia and Larxene loved to take Axel shopping. It was hilarious. And they loved the fact that Axel couldn't see color. A bit sad, but everybody needed to laugh at someone every once in a while. Or in their case, cackle.

Sometimes, Marluxia would dress Axel up in hot pink shirts and tell him its dark blue. They somehow always cajole the shop keeper to nod their heads and agree. (Only after a ten dollar bribe, maybe twenty if the shop keeper was enthusiastic about it.) Larxene would just smirk as usual during the whole thing.

"I still don't, but I don't need to see color to know that you ain't a real man." Axel smirked and gave Demyx a high-five as he laughed.

"Ha, ha Axel." The other person laughed sarcastically, "You'll get your just desserts soon."

"You make my life a living hell every time the both of you are around. Fuck, I'm use to it already." He rolled his eyes as he lowered his drink from his head and took a big gulp of it.

"Oh really?" the girl didn't sound too convinced, "Marly, should we take it up a notch?" she asked as she turned to the said person and wrapped her own arm around him.

"I believe we should, our egos have been damaged and we must take the appropriate steps to redeem it."

"Ooohhh. Axel, you better watch out." Demyx teased as he took a step back, "I never wanna incur the wrath of both Larxene and Marluxia at the same time, they're bitches man."

"Watch your mouth Demyx." The girl warned with a point of the finger.

The said person held up his hands in defense and promptly kept his mouth shut.

"Anyways, nice to see you guys again, however short our reunion was, we'll be off for now." She waved almost too happily as the both of them made their exit.

Once they were gone and out of sight, Demyx let out a long whistle, "I think you should hide Axel." He warned.

"Puh-lease…" he scoffed, "There's nothing they can do to me anymore."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I mean, you know, they're a diabolical duo…" he spoke as he took another sip from his drink.

"Yeah well, they can't do anything to me anymore. I only need Roxas to survive." He sighed as he brought his drink up to his lips.

The dirty haired blond smiled at the red head, "Aww Axel, that is so…" he paused mid-way, "…gay of you." He laughed when the said person choked on his beer and proceeded to cough and hack.

* * *

In a quaint little café not to far away from the university campus, sitting alone in the corner of the building was a girl who awaited her beloved companion to return. 

"Hmm…" a certain blonde girl tapped her manicured fingers on the table as she crossed one leg over the other. "Axel seems happy." She spoke when Marluxia returned with two cups of coffee. One was flat white, the other one, a caramel frappachino.

"He does, doesn't he?" he commented with a neutral look upon his face.

"I wonder why…" she sighed as she picked up her drink and sipped carefully from it, "Do you think he found someone special?"

"It may be possible." He added a sachet of brown sugar into his drink and stirred it around.

"I wonder who it is." She licked the cream from the lips and stared into her drink thoughtfully.

"We'll find out soon."

She smirked, "Yeah, and then we can start wreaking havoc."

"Do you think this special person of his knows?" he returned the smirk with one of his own as he picked up his coffee and sipped it.

"I hope not." Her smirk disappeared, followed by a slight frown.

"What if this special person of his, freaks out?" he asked as he ripped open another sachet and dropped the contents into his cup of coffee.

"Then it'll be our job to pick up the pieces of our poor excuse of a friend named Axel." She smirked and brought her drink up to her lips again.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" he reached forward and caressed her cheek when she placed her drink back on the table.

"All the time darling." She smiled as she brought her thumb up to wipe the cream off from her lips.

He took her hand and licked the cream off, "Let's make this visit memorable."

* * *

The red head had not been planning to see a certain duo standing in front of his locker, and at first, he had hoped that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he changed his mind after a while. 

Nobody else in the whole entire world would have hair in that particular fashion.

He was pretty glad that he's colorblind, or else he would've been blinded by their sheer ferocity. "Dude, step away from my locker and make out somewhere else." He scoffed as he placed one hand on his waist and tapped his shoe on the ground impatiently.

The girl turned around and smirked, "Why, if it isn't our favorite friend."

The red head scoffed again as he approached his locker and promptly shoved them away, ignoring their slight noise of indignity, "If I'm your favorite, I'd hate to see who your enemy is…" he muttered as he turned the dial of his locker and pulled it open.

They ignored it as he detached themselves from each other, "So Axel dearest, where will you be taking us today?" Larxene asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Can't you guys go sight seeing by yourselves? I mean, you guys practically live here half the time." He spoke as he shoved his textbooks in and left his work books and note books in his bag. They weren't that heavy to carry around.

"But we wanna spend time with _you_." She whined.

"Because we _miss_ you." He added with a sincere smile of his own.

"That comment really…makes me feel uncomfortable." He stared at them suspiciously as he closed his locker and placed the lock back on.

They were just about to make another comment when Axel's phone started ringing.

He picked it up, turned his back to the two people and spoke into it, all the while ignoring the looks of pure disbelief from the other two, "Sup."

"Axel! Guess who I bumped into at the quad!" the voice sounded bubbly from the other side, it could only belong to one person.

"Er…Namine?" he hazarded a stupid guess.

Unbeknownst to Axel, the two who stood behind him perked up a little at the mention of the unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar name.

"Yes and no."

"What?" he asked incredulously, "How can it be yes and no."

"Yes because, she's here, but I didn't literally bump into her."

"Oh, ok. So?" he felt his heart racing in his chest at the mere thought of meeting up with Roxas again. Although he'd try to at _least_ seem nonchalant or cool about it.

"Come down here and meet us. Duh!" And with that, the bubbly boy hung up.

Axel sighed and pocketed his phone back and almost walked off until somebody yanked his hair back, making him wince and almost cry out in pain.

"What the fuck?!" he swore as he grabbed his hair and tried to get the captor to let go.

"And where do you think you're going?" she quirked up an eyebrow in slight annoyance.

"Ditching you for better company." He sneered and finally got his hair free from her vice grip.

"Who's this Namine." Marluxia gripped his chin in thought as he stared at the red head.

"Demyx's sister." He growled as he gingerly rubbed the back of his head.

"You're dating Demyx's _sister_?" they spoke in sync with each other.

He stared at them in a sort of mixed look of disgust and shock, "Fuck no! How the fuck did you get that from that phone call?" he cried out.

"Well, that was the only name we got from it," he shrugged.

"Anyways, let's go meet this Namine." She smiled as she started walking away to who knows where.

Axel considered letting them walk to wherever they wanted to go, but after debating with himself, he decided, 'Sure they can be bitches and whores and bastards and fucked up jerks, but they're still friends.' He sighed and then finally with a bit of effort, he called out to them, "You're going the wrong way…"

* * *

The blond tried not to gulp as he avoided their scrutinizing stares. He felt like…for a lack of a more fitting description, like a rabbit between two hungry foxes or a lamb stuck in a den with two ferocious lions. 

That was a pretty good metaphor, but it just made him feel even more awkward about the whole situation.

"So, Roxas."

Oh my God, there goes the lioness. The blond tried not to show fear. He watched the discovery channel some weeks ago and learnt that hunters could sense how the prey was feeling.

He never felt this nervous when he first met with Demyx, although the fact that Namine was with him helped a bit. He didn't feel this bad with Zexion either. Maybe because he needed help and decided to take a gulp and take the plunge. As for Axel, it wasn't that horribly awkward because Demyx, Zexion _and_ Namine were there.

But these two…Larxene and Marluxia, if he could remember correctly, they looked downright terrifying. As though with one look, they could send a lightning bolt up his spine or a sickle to chop at his neck.

He tried not to gulp as he brought his eyes up to look at the blonde speaker.

"What are you studying?"

"I'm studying Literature." He replied curtly.

"Oh, same as Zex then?"

"Yes." Why did this feel like an interrogation? Was it…an initiation into the group or something? Are they gonna do the same thing to Namine? But she's Demyx's sister…so maybe not? 'Why me…?'

"Not in the same class I'm assuming."

"No."

The blonde girl nodded her head and he felt his shoulder relaxing just a fraction. Of course, he jumped a little when Demyx suddenly got up and slammed his hands on the table.

"Ok! Now that introductions are over, let's go eat!" he grinned and led the way.

Namine smiled as she walked by the blond who looked traumatized, "Poor Roxas, how are you feeling?"

"I need skittles…" he offered weakly as he opened his bag and dug around for the said item.

Upon bringing out the brightly colored bag, Larxene could barely hold back a snicker but managed to school a smile on her face, "Hey I love skittles!" she jumped over towards the blond, "Mind if I have a couple?"

"Sure." He nodded as he offered her the bag. She merely held out her hand and he awkwardly spilled some out from the package onto her awaiting hand.

"Hey, you know who else loves skittles?" she asked as she popped two into her mouth, "Axel does, you should offer some for him too." She grinned as she popped another into her mouth and walked away to give some to Marluxia.

"Ok?" he gave a lop-sided smile as he offered some to Namine who refused with a shake of her head. He then called out to the guys who were two steps in front of him. Marluxia and Larxene lagged behind to watch. "Hey, want some skittles?"

The dirty haired blond immediately cried out in joy, "I _love_ skittles! Haven't had these babies since last year!" he held out his hands and waited for Roxas to pour some onto them.

"What's your favorite flavor? I like lemon and lime the best." He spoke as he poured some into his hands and picked up the mentioned flavors. He noticed the look that the red head was giving him, "Larxene told me you like skittles too, which one is your favorite flavor?"

"Er…I don't remember?" he offered weakly as he scratched his cheek.

"Really? Then try the lemon or lime one, they are seriously the best flavor."

"Ah really?" he felt himself sweating just a little as he hovered his hand over the blonds'.

Demyx and Zexion watched with anticipation and wondered if they should tell Roxas or not while Larxene and Marluxia were struggling to hold back their laughter.

Namine had walked on without them knowing.

After taking a small gulp, he randomly picked one up and popped it into his mouth, then tried to figure out the flavor of it so he could laugh and say that it was his favorite instead.

"So?" Roxas asked expectantly.

"It's good." He offered weakly.

"See? I told you, lemon is the best flavor next to lime." He smiled and then picked up a couple more and popped it into his mouth then turned to the dirty haired blond and slate haired boy. "What do you guys think?"

Axel let out a sigh and tried to calm his ramming heart. He almost choked on his candy when somebody landed an all too hearty pat to the back. "Lucky pick." Marluxia smirked while the blonde laughed behind her hand almost maniacally. "My favorite is the purple one."

"I hate you guys…" he sneered at them.

Suddenly, somebody called them from far away, "Hey guys? Am I the only one who's hungry here?"

"Coming sister dearest!" the dirty haired blond called out as he stuffed the rest of the candy into his mouth and continued on walking.

* * *

I lost my phunk. I think…Blergh… 

But damn man…I wanted skittles but the stupid dairy is closed…Fucking closed! But then again…it's sort of like…1am at night, so yeah…


	10. Food Coloring

Woot! Ten chapters! The big ONE-OH! Cheer with me!! Woot Woot!!

Lawls, anyways, I was looking at my pole on my profile. I'm wondering who actually went and voted on the 'It makes me wanna marry you if gay marriages were legal.' option. It made me laugh my ass off, but in a good way! Don't be offended by it though.

If I could, I'd wanna marry you too!!

Once we get into the whole business of getting to know each other and stuffs. Yeah.

* * *

It was their sole duty to make everyday for the red head a living hell. They forcibly dragged him into every clothing retail store and made him buy one of the 'gayest' things ever seen on mankind.

A baby blue t-shirt with pink flowers on one side with a few green ivy tendrils crawling up. It was a size small as well and it showed off his skinny yet muscular form.

Axel really, and by really, he meant _really,_ hated going shopping with Larxene and Marluxia. But if he didn't, they might make his life a lot of intolerable than it already was.

Sure he was colorblind, but they didn't need to rub it in.

Talk about rubbing salt into his gaping injuries.

The red head let out a sigh as the girl dragged him into another girly shop. The humiliation he felt an hour ago had been replaced by exhaustion, but as soon as he noticed a particular color out from the corner of his eye, the embarrassment returned ten fold.

It was getting hotter and hotter by the second and he had sincerely hoped that he was skinny enough not to be seen as he hid behind a pole.

"Axel?"

So much for being skinny enough not to be seen.

"H-hey, Roxas." He greeted a little awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to buy a recharge card for my phone." He stared at the red head, "Are you…" at first, he was about to comment on the shirt, but then his eyes traveled down to the ground and he changed his mind, "…wearing pink shoes?"

He let out a nervous laugh, he didn't know they were pink, not that he knew what pink looked like…"Larxene wouldn't leave me alone until I bought them."

Roxas looked behind the red head and noticed the blonde girl going through racks and racks of ridiculously colored clothing with Marluxia holding up the pile for her.

He paled just a little bit when he noticed a majority of the clothes were either pink, hot pink, light pink, and with the occasional light blue then turned back to the red head, "I really feel sorry for you." He smiled apologetically. "But, you can return them when she's not looking, right?" he offered sympathetically.

"Oh, I intend to…" he looked a little drained. "I did not want to spend my free time walking around the city _shopping_," he added with an annoyed voice as he held up the multiple shopping bags in his one hand.

"Well, she's not looking right now." He pointed out and the red head turned to see that she was indeed too preoccupied with what shirt to choose from to pay attention to Axel.

"Oh good stuffs." He grinned as though this was the first thing to go right today, grabbed Roxas' wrist and ran off down the sidewalk towards an unknown location.

The next time Larxene turned around, the red head was no where to be seen and she felt annoyance bubble within her, and almost ripped the lime green shirt in her hands in half.

She later swore on her dead grandmother's grave (God bless her soul) that she will never, _ever_ again let Axel out of her sight while she's around in Hollow Bastion.

* * *

Upon reaching a small back alleyway that connected one main street to another, the red head finally let go of the blonds' wrist after running for about a minute or two. They were a fair distance away from _those_ two particular people. So, for now, he'll be safe.

After regaining his breath, the first thing he did was rummage around his various shopping bags and tugged off his horrendous shoes in favor of his previous one. The second thing he did, he pulled off his stupid blue shirt and started looking around the other bags for a black shirt.

When concerning shopping and what clothes to buy, he would ask Reno's friend to help him with picking out a couple of new shirts and pants. Rude was reliable like that. Although he had always wondered how Rude ended up meeting with his stupid older brother.

But now, of course…it didn't help that he couldn't tell the difference between dark purple or hot pink and he had no-one to help him. So he had some difficulty. He couldn't just turn around and ask Roxas. It made him felt stupid just thinking about it.

And for some reason, Roxas couldn't stop staring at the flexing muscles of the red head. And it wasn't until Axel let out a small string of curses that he finally stopped staring, "Er, what are you looking for?"

"Something not pink or baby blue or gay." He tried to hide his embarrassment as he looked through another bag.

"What about the one you're holding?" he pointed out innocently.

"Oh…" Axel stared at the shirt and wondered what color it was. Sure it was dark, but he couldn't really tell for sure. "Would…this match?" he asked ambiguously.

"What?" he quirked up an eyebrow, "Are you blind or something?" he laughed.

That wasn't…too far from the truth and Axel felt horribly embarrassed.

"Black matches with anything. And besides, you're already wearing black trousers and black converse shoes." He pointed to each article of clothing, "Adding the black shirt would give off the emo look." And then he quickly added, "Not that you're emo or anything."

The red head laughed, "Yeah, thanks a bunch." He smirked as he pulled the shirt over his head and tugged at the bottom hem to straighten it out. Just as he looked back up at the blond, his tummy let out a soft growl. "Ok, I didn't know I was hungry…"

Roxas laughed, "I haven't eaten yet either, I just finished class. Where do you wanna go?"

"I dunno, wherever you want." He shrugged as he picked up his shopping bags and walked out of the alleyway. "Oh, you wanted to get a recharge card?"

"Yeah, but I can get it tomorrow. No rush." He reasoned as they looked around the main street.

"Nah, we'll get it later." He smiled as he looked across the street and spotted a Japanese sushi train shop. "Feel like Japanese?"

"Always room for Japanese." He smiled as they looked both ways and crossed the street towards the mentioned store. "I'm not eating any eels or whatever's though."

"Aww," he whined, "But they're good stuffs!"

In the end, Roxas ended up trying some.

"It tastes like…chicken."

"Good, right?" he grinned as he put a whole piece of sushi into his mouth.

* * *

A certain blonde girl and pink-brown haired boy watched from afar the conversation that the red head and blond were in.

She couldn't help but wonder if there was something going on. And she couldn't help but notice that Axel was a little too friendly towards the kid. From what she gathered the other day, they haven't been friends for any more than 2 weeks or so.

And she knew it wasn't in Axel's particular nature to warm up to somebody so quickly.

"Marly baby…are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes dear…and it seems that Axel's found his _special_ someone."

She sniffed, "That's almost beautiful."

"Yeah, I almost feel guilty."

"Almost."

They laughed and decided to let Axel off the hook for now. There's always tomorrow, or the next day. They have about a week left in Hollow Bastion, might as well make it all count and then leave with a bang, or something like that.

They don't mean to make Axel's life horrible. It was already horrible without them even trying, but they couldn't help but snicker and poke at Axel's unfortunate circumstances.

* * *

In a Japanese restaurant somewhere in the city, Axel sneezed.

* * *

It was the weekend (finally), and immediately, Axel felt impending doom fall upon him as soon as he awoke from his sweet slumber of a certain boy who colored his life.

Dreams to Axel were like watching a black and white movie with no audio. And all he could do was sit back and watch as 'Axel' ran around and did everything for him. Although sometimes, he'd feel like he was on the edge of the seat like he was watching some horror movie because some random person decided to chase him up hill with a freaking skateboard.

That was a weird dream, but that happened a long time ago. Some time during his childhood or something when he got his first pair of rollerblades and his brother thought it would be funny to chase him around on his skateboard.

He really hated his brother sometimes, that idiot. He swore that guy only lived to assist whatever dastardly deeds Marluxia and Larxene had in mind.

And would you look at that? They were now sitting in his room, on his swivel chair or on his work desk, sipping on either tea or coffee from _his_ pantry and looking as though they _owned_ the fucking apartment.

"What do you want…" he drawled out. He had hoped for a quiet weekend with maybe some revision or homework. And maybe, if he got lucky enough, meet up with Roxas somewhere in the city, if he was in the city. He wasn't sure where the kid lived. Probably at home with his parents or siblings or whatever.

"We came to brighten up your day, sweetie." She smiled a little too happily and the red head felt his morning grow darker and darker by the second.

"Oh…joy…" he buried his face in his pillow and wished this was all a bad dream. A bad, bad, bad, horrible dream. Why did Reno have to let those two nut cases of friends in?

It wasn't that they were mean or anything. Nah, they just take pleasure in making his life horrible to live in. But they sometimes show that rare, affectionate, friendly side to the red head. Sometimes.

Like that one time they scared her girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend) off because they told her of his 'special' needs and then she stressed herself too much because she didn't know what to do or what to say and she felt that everything she did was just wrong, wrong, _wrong_.

So…they broke up. She initiated the break up, but _they_ were the caused of it all. Although it might've been partly his fault for not telling his girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend) in the first place.

So after drowning in his sorrows for a while, both Marluxia and Larxene eventually convinced that if she couldn't handle the red head being just that little bit 'special' then she didn't deserve him.

Still…it was a nice feeling to have someone to call his own.

He sighed as he peered at them. 'They meant well…' he shook his head and pushed himself off his bed. "Have you guys eaten yet?"

* * *

He looked up at the plain ceiling and asked, 'What have I done to deserve this?' all the while resisting the urge to let out a long, tired sigh.

There was nothing particularly wrong with the scenario. They were sitting at a small round table, in an authentic Chinese restaurant, being casual about the whole situation. The odd one out was the boy sitting next to the red head who looked pretty ok with everything.

Axel was fucking sure that Larxene and Marluxia were planning something, they were always planning something, something to ruin his dull (although it might be considered to be somewhat brighter now that Roxas was around) life.

Why else would they have invited the kid out to lunch with just the three of them? And how the hell did they get his number?

At first he had thought that maybe they suspect something. Sure he liked the kid, but only because he added a bit of flair and color in his black and white world. But apart from friendship, he was pretty sure he, himself, didn't swing that way.

"Roxas, what do you wanna order?" Larxene had given him another menu, "I wanna get the seafood egg fu yong."

"Don't forget some veges, you need your 'five plus a day'." Her partner beside her pointed out to the other page of the menu she was using.

"Yes babe."

After a few more minutes of choosing and deciding, they placed their orders down for 3 dishes and four bowls of rice.

Larxene had left shortly after to 'powder her nose' in the bathroom.

Axel found it a little weird how girls need to freshen up once every ten minutes or so. Especially Larxene. That girl's got enough powder on her nose to put icing on a cake…Not that he could tell, but from what he heard from Demyx…it must've been a lot.

Once Larxene had returned, she had a smile on her face and after she sat back down, she leaned over towards her boyfriend and whispered something into his ear.

After they parted, each with a smile on their face, Axel wasn't quite sure if that was a smirk or not, they acted pretty normal. And by normal, Axel meant suspicious. He wasn't quite sure what they were planning, but he assumed that he'll eventually find out after lunch.

Oh, speaking of lunch, the egg fu yong and a plate of veges have just arrived, along with the four bowls of rice. Roxas had visibly blanched when the food arrived.

The red head shrugged and decided to let the suspicion slide for now and worry about what those two were planning for later.

As soon as he got the first mouth in, Roxas had stared at the red head in pure shock. He knew Axel liked weird foods, but this was totally pushing it off the edge.

Axel noticed that the blond wasn't eating and swallowed before asking, "You ok?" He did not notice the face cracking smiles the other two had on their faces, on the verge of bursting out in guffaws.

"Yeah sure. I'm good." He stared at the plates of food in front of him as though they might eat him instead of the other way around.

"How come you're not eating?"

"Ah…well…I don't normally eat artificially colored foods." He reasoned as he glanced away from the table. Having seen enough.

"Say wha?"

Almost immediately, the other two patrons of the table suddenly burst out laughing and almost toppled over their seats in glee.

"What did you do?!" the red head cried out in horror.

"Chill Axel." Marluxia was the first to regain his composure while Larxene was still screaming like a banshee and trying to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes. "It's just food coloring."

Axel couldn't really tell but from Roxas' point of view, the egg fu yong was colored green and the prawns in it were blue and the plated of veges were red.

Never in his life did the red head feel so humiliated, so after a few minutes of trying to calm himself down, he finally got up, placed a twenty dollar bill from his wallet onto the table and left the restaurant.

The blond had made a move to go after him but Larxene pulled on his sleeve and stopped him. "Hey, it's really not that big a deal but Axel's just blowing things out of proportion." She reasoned as she picked up her pair of chopsticks and started eating.

The other boy of the table motioned for him to sit down, and he obeyed.

After a few minutes of silent eating, Roxas found that he couldn't really swallow his anxiety. And his lunch. He felt confused about the way Axel reacted. He could only guess what was really going on.

"Do you know his little secret?" Marluxia asked as he placed a small portion of rice into his mouth.

"…I can sort of guess." He replied slowly as he stared at his half eaten bowl of rice.

"Well, Axel will tell you tomorrow, if he's up for it."

The blond merely nodded as he bit his lower lip and wondered where Axel was right now.

* * *

Damn…I feel so sad…I'm so sorry Axel! Making you suffer like this. I apologize sincerely! Maybe things will look up for you eventually.

(Eventually…)


	11. Story of my Life

I'm smitten…with AkuRoku. Tis my sole duty to fill the world of fan-fiction with stories of their endeavors, their trials and tribulations that led them towards a path called love.

Maybe I should take up Literature as well…Hardy-har-har! (Oh yeah, that was really sophisticated…)

Thank you all for the wonderful 100 review hit! Makes my heart scream with joy!! Lawls.

* * *

In an attempt to avoid confrontation with Marluxia and Larxene and possibly Roxas, Axel decided to room with Zexion just for one night. At least then, the next day, he could walk around the city for a while, maybe go to the library, chill with Demyx at his apartment or something and then come Monday, go to university and fully avoid those three particular people. 

Or at least, that's what he hoped for.

"Thanks Zex, for putting up with me tonight." The red head spoke as he shifted on the couch. His makeshift bed for the night.

"It's fine. But is it alright for you to avoid Roxas?" the slate haired boy watched Axel carefully as he peered over his novel of Shakespeare.

The red head had suddenly appeared at his apartment door half way through the day when he was in the middle of reading a different novel for class and after half an hour of constant talking on Axel's behalf, Zexion knew what was going on. More or less.

"I…I don't know." In truth, he was afraid of what the boy might think. He wanted to find out what Roxas thought, but at the same time, he was afraid of being hurt and rejected. "I don't know…"

After a short moment of silence, Zexion sighed as he turned to a particular page of the book, "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." He snapped the book shut, got up from his seat and retreated to his room, "Goodnight."

Axel lifted his head from the cushion and stared at the spot where Zexion was before he walked into his room, "…Good…night…?" he spoke uncertainly as he pondered on the last thing that the other said.

He allowed his head to rest back on the cushion as his eyes focused on a random spot in the ceiling, "Painted blind huh?" he sighed and rested his arms behind his head and stared at the plain ceiling.

* * *

He saw something flash from the corner of his eye and immediately, he tried to duck out of the way and out of sight. But luck was never really on his side. 

"Axel!"

The red head was in the middle of deciding whether he should run the hell out of there or confront the blond about his situation. He didn't really get a choice when the kid suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Axel! Why didn't you tell me?"

Axel's eyes momentarily went blind, "I-I um…er…" he fumbled with his words and he nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he avoided looking into the boy's eyes.

Roxas could tell that the red head was agitated, so he decided that maybe a quiet spot would be better rather than in the middle of a crowded quad, "Come on, let's go somewhere else."

They walked a little ways away from each other, with Roxas in the lead, eyes searching for a good place to talk. Even after they got to a quiet, secluded spot on the stairs of the fire exit, Axel would look anywhere and everywhere except at the boy who was waiting expectantly for an answer.

Finally, Roxas sighed, "Look, I don't care if you're...whatever, alright? Really, I don't." he tried to convince him.

For a moment, Axel widened his eyes a fraction in shock, but carefully made sure that he wouldn't look into those brilliant eyes. "Really? That's great." He laughed a little nervously, still avoiding the gaze of Roxas.

"Why didn't you tell me though? Being..." he had been avoiding that word just in case he'd hit a sore spot, "Being colorblind shouldn't change anything."

'I was afraid of losing you.' He swallowed that thought along with his anxiety, "You don't know what it's like to be like this."

Roxas nodded, "Ok, I don't, but I still like to hang out with you."

Axel couldn't help but wonder if the kid was just feeling sorry for him and was merely extending his hand out in pity. He didn't want pity, least of all from Roxas.

"Pity…is the last thing I want from you…" he mumbled out as he stuck his thumbs into his pockets and stared at his shoes.

"It's not pity." The red head still refused to look at him, "We're friends right? I don't want to lose good friends."

This time, Axel really did look up and he could immediately tell that Roxas' feelings were genuine and he smiled. The red head suddenly felt a little stupid for not saying anything to him. "Yeah."

That was how he lost his girlfriend (now ex...) for not telling, but this was different with Roxas.

Axel always had difficulty making new friends because of his situation, but he had Demyx and the others who didn't seem to care much about his 'disability'. In fact...they actually had a lot of fun teasing him and poking at him.

Roxas returned the smile, "Anyways, change of subject. Either you're extremely secure of your sexuality, or very flamboyant, or gay. Or maybe seriously colorblind."

The red head had absolutely no idea what the kid was on about until he pointed at his shirt.

"Er…" Axel hadn't been looking when he changed into something random that morning for class.

Apparently, he was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt that said 'Smile Sunshine!'

Axel laughed awkwardly and wished he could just merge with the wall.

"Have you returned the clothes you bought the other day?" Roxas asked with a wide grin.

"No…Most shops don't give refund, they normally just give store credit." He sighed, "I managed to get a refund for the shoes though."

Roxas laughed, "If you want, I can help you pick what to wear. I promise I won't pick anything horrible for you." Although he wasn't quite sure if he could hold up to that promise.

Everybody's gotta have a little fun every once in a while right?

* * *

"Don't miss us too much Axel." A certain girl grinned as she waved at the red head from the passenger side window of a yellow Volkswagen with pink flowers on the side. Roxas had quirked up an eyebrow at the color combination. 

He smirked, "Yeah, you won't be seeing me celebrating your departure at all." He spoke sarcastically as he gave the two a salute.

"Don't worry, we'll be back next holiday." Marluxia spoke as he stuck the last bag into his car and got into the driver's seat.

There would've been more people to see them off rather than just Axel and Roxas, but Demyx needed to stay behind for practice, Zexion had to assist someone at the library and Namine wanted to get some help from her art teacher. So it just left the two of them for a send-off committee.

"Oh great…I'll be sure to book a ride to Twilight Town or whatever." He smiled ruefully as the car came to life.

She merely smirked and didn't take it to heart, "Tootles!" she waved one more time and sat properly in her seat before she pushed the button for the window to go up.

Once they were gone and out of sight, on the way back to Oblivion University Campus a two hours drive away, Axel sighed, "I'm gonna miss them."

"Really?" Roxas stared up at him expectantly.

He sniffed a little, "…Nah." He grinned as he turned to the kid, "What now?" he asked as they made their way back into the quad.

"Skittles?"

"Ski-wha?" he did a double take at the boy walking next to him.

"Skittles." He pulled out a packet of sweet, yummy goodness from his messenger bag and held it up to the red head. "Instead of me telling you which flavor to eat, why don't you just have a taste of each and pick your favorite and I'll tell you what color it is."

Axel was surprised by the suggestion. Nobody had ever offered to do that for him before and he couldn't help but feel his heart go aflutter for the boy. "S-sure. Yeah. I'd like that." He smiled.

It was about ten minutes later, Axel found his favorite to be either yellow or green, which happened to be lemon and lime, which also happened to be Roxas' favorite flavors of the bunch.

He also learnt that the darkest color out of the five flavors was grape, the second darkest was strawberry, the lightest was lemon, the second lightest was lime and the middle one was orange. He couldn't really tell from the different shades of black and white, but he sort of knew which of the flavors were purple, red, yellow, green and orange.

"I've been meaning to ask." Axel suddenly brought up as he chewed thoughtfully on an orange flavored skittle.

"Yeah?" Roxas looked up to the red head after he popped another lemon flavored candy into his mouth.

"How is it that you always manage to find me?" he watched the boy expectantly.

"Huh?" he stared at him in confusion.

"You know, that time in the city, I was trying to hide from you, and that time I tried to get away." He reached for a light colored candy and popped it in his mouth.

"Oh. It was your hair." He answered as he quirked up an eyebrow and remembered that Axel wouldn't be able to tell. "You're pretty much a walking target you know."

The red head laughed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," he shook his head in disbelief, "Speaking of which, is that really your hair color?" he asked as he pointed at the flaming mane.

Axel tugged at his hair and vaguely recalled somewhere in his childhood of being teased a lot for his crazy hair color. He figured it must've been weird, but he's had that hair color for all of his life. "Yeah, it's natural. My brother has the same hair color, supposedly." He grinned as he picked up two random colored candies, threw it in the air and caught it in his mouth.

For a moment, Roxas wondered if this brother of his was colorblind as well.

And as though sensing what the kid was thinking, he threw another candy into the air and caught it before answering, "It's not genetic. Being colorblind. In my family anyways. I just got stupid."

"What happened?" he asked before he could stop himself, "Sorry, you don't have to if you don't wanna."

"Nah, I've re-told the story about a million times already." He swallowed the candy and let out a sigh, cleared his throat and started talking in a weird accent, "It must've been when I was a wee boy of about four or five years old or so."

It sounded Scottish. Irish maybe?

Roxas nodded regardless and urged the red head to continue.

He returned his voice back to normal, "I don't remember much but I remember playing around with some chemicals or something like that." He reached for another skittle but didn't pop it into his mouth, "Must've been flammable ones too," he laughed a little ruefully and Roxas couldn't help but feel a little depressed hearing that sound, "Long story short. So after a flurry of unfortunate events, the next thing I knew was that I was in the hospital and I was colorblind." He let out another sigh and felt his fingers growing sticky due to the candy melting just slightly, "I'm actually pretty lucky to even see at all." He popped the candy into his mouth and licked his fingers free of its stickiness.

When Axel looked up to see the kid, he had his eyes downcast and looked apologetic. The red head was about to say how he didn't want his pity when suddenly, the boy retorted with how it was probably his own fault to begin with.

The red head stared at him in shock, he really hadn't been expecting that, but it was sort of refreshing.

Axel laughed.

* * *

Yeah, cry poor Axel a river. Or not, he might not appreciate it. Lols. 


	12. Not so much a Lost Cause

This chapter completely focuses on Xigbar! With a little something, something on the side. Muahaha! Read and enjoy my friends!

* * *

A round of shots echoed through the air in sound-shattering waves, but those with ear muffs on barely paid any attention to the sound except to the target which the .9mm bullets were being fired at.

One the trigger for the last bullet was pulled, the gun was lowered back to the table and the pedal was pushed for the target to come forward.

When the target came into better view, a few murmurs of awe expelled from the lips of some colleagues.

"Shit…" a man swallowed as he examined the bullets holes converging on a particular spot.

The shooter ripped the paper target off and roughly placed another one on before kicking the pedal down to force it to go back to its original spot.

If this guy ever shot at anybody for real, outside the training department, is gonna be plenty unlucky.

Round after round after round was fired and soon, everybody else in the room had their eyes glued on the unfortunate paper target of which the shooter was purging his fury at.

Once the shooter felt remotely satisfied with his results, he pulled the safety switch of the weapon, laid it back on the table and walked out of the soundproof training room.

"Hey Xigbar!" a colleague called out to the said person as he pulled off his own set of ear muffs and unzipped his bullet-proof jacket.

The said person turned around and stared at his colleague nonchalantly.

Meet Xigbar. Aged 19.

As soon as he graduated from high school, he immediately ditched his choice for attending college in order to apply his mind and skills at the Police Academy at the Hollow Bastion Police Center.

He's currently training to be a gun-man, and is already in his second year of training while still holding the record for best Rookie of the year.

"Still top rookie of the year huh? How's it feel?" his colleague, a man roughly three years his senior with short brunet hair landed a hearty pat to the back.

Xigbar merely grunted with a small shrug. "Too fucking easy." He offered.

He's on the look out for a job to work in the field. Drive around in a police car, hunt down some robbers, and shoot some bad guys. That's where all the action and adrenaline is at.

No fucking way is he gonna be stuck behind some lame office job working on reports, sorting out files and trying to solve murder cases. No way.

He wants to go out there and shoot some fucking criminals!

Or moving targets like cars or their tires. As long as he gets to shoot something with a gun or a rifle or a pistol or a machine gun, he doesn't mind.

"Want to go grab a beer at the local pub or something?" his colleague, a man going by the name of Matt offered as he walked by the rookie policeman.

"Nah, I have somewhere else I need to be." He declined as he walked over to his locker and pulled the door open.

"Girlfriend?" he teased and gave a slight poke.

Xigbar snorted, "As if." He threw in his bullet-proof jacket and pulled out his black leather jacket and slipped it on. "Love is for the weak. The bad guys are gonna take that weakness and expose you and use it against you. No fucking way am I ever gonna fall in love."

"Ah, but love can also make you strong. Love gave me a purpose."

"You sound like a love-sick freak. Love is pathetic." Full stop. No use convincing the lost cause.

"You're just saying that because you've never been in love before, Xig."

He frowned at that nickname. Matt isn't close enough to him to merit him the use of that particular nickname. They've only known each other for about…maybe three quarters of a year or so.

And besides, that nickname's reserved to friends only.

"Catch ya tomorrow." The man with the ponytail threw a wave back as he headed for the door.

His class had finished hours ago, but he just stayed behind to get a few practice rounds and maybe a little friendly shooting competition with another trainee in the target room.

So far, nobody's been able to match to his skills or get the better or him.

He had the keen marksmanship of an elite sharpshooter. He was an expert in the field of guns and could totally take apart and put back together a sub-machine gun in less than fifty seconds.

Pretty good for a guy who's only got one usable eye. Not to mention being the quickest.

When they first allowed the trainees to go about their shooting program, a few people were startled at how good an aim Xigbar had. And the supervisors had wondered if he had done anything illegal in the past, but before he was admitted into the academy, they made a thorough check of anyone and everyone wanting to attend.

Xigbar's records were cleaner than a new pack of A4 photocopying papers.

Although a few people still wondered if he was a shooter of some sort in his past life. A killer maybe.

He stepped out of the building and made his way towards his car parked at the back. The drive to the university campus was a mere five minutes away. Not a problem. The only problem was finding a suitable, free parking close by.

He never really had much luck in finding a park and most of the time, he ended up having to go into those parking buildings where it costs an arm an a leg to park for an hour. Fucking con-artists...And that place isn't really that safe either.

But today was his lucky day and he found a good park not five minutes walk away to the university campus where he was going to meet up with his ex-high school buddies and go drinking.

"Woah! That's a _sweet_ paint-job!" a boy behind him cried out in absolute glee as he came closer for a better look. "I am loving it."

"Hmm…?" the eye-patch wearing boy turned around and stared at the sandy haired blond boy as he continued to ogle at his car.

"I thought it was purple at first, but now I can really see the silver undertones." He commented as he refrained from touching the vehicle, lest he ruin the smooth wax finish.

Xigbar merely grunted as he pushed the button for the alarm to sound and walked off. The boy followed.

"How much did it cost?" the boy asked as he followed, his eyes still glued to the vehicle.

"I did it myself." He spoke nonchalantly as he stuffed his hands into his leather jacket and started his walk to the university campus.

Although, he may not look it, he's a pretty good artist with an eye (Oh, ha, ha) for detail. He had wanted to go into the course for arts and design or maybe graphics design, but he submitted into his love of gun power.

Finally, blue eyes tore away from the car and stared with a mix of surprise and shock at the man with hair tied to a pony-tail. "_You_ did it?"

"Yes." Maybe he should've just paid the $10 fee and parked his car at that car-park building.

"Cool…" his voice was filled with awe, "And it's a sweet Honda Accord Euro R too…" he sighed longingly, "I've got a 1996 Toyota Celica. Second hand for four point five grand. Took me years to save up."

A chuckle escaped from Xigbar's lips, although whether it was willing or not, he wasn't quite sure. It wasn't even his usual sinister chuckle, "It's Xigbar." He had no idea what compelled him to give his name to an unknown kid.

"Huh?"

"My name." he rolled his visible eye and continued walking with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, ok. Mind if I call you Xig? Or Xiggy?"

He quirked up his only visible eyebrow in surprise, then shrugged, "Sure kid, whatever you want."

"It's Tidus by the way."

"Sure kid, I'll keep that in mind."

For the first time for as long as he could remember, he felt his lips tug up in a small, meaningful smile.

Maybe he's not that much of a lost cause to begin with.

* * *

You know that bit with the taking apart and putting the gun back together again? I googled it up…and shit man…I was like 'WOW!' So yeah, apparently, in broad daylight, a sub-machine gun can be dismounted and assembled again in about one minute, so I decided, fuck that, Xigbar could do it in less than one minute. Lols.

Oh…guns are bad, don't use them. Xigbar would totally agree with me on that. Wouldn't you Xiggy?

Xigbar: Yeah sure, whatever you say.

Good boy.


	13. Overruled

I really like that last chapter. They're not my OTP, but they just sort of, I dunno. Crack pairing I guess. They just _fit_. Ya get me?

Anyways, I just don't get how the first chapter would always have like…three times the amount of hits than compared to the next chapter. It's…weird in a funny way.

Anyways!! Lawls, thank you all for the wonderful 5k hits! Love you all!! (Throws kisses)

* * *

On some days, where the urge to do something suggested by someone, overrules logic and majority vote. Like today for example.

Today just happened to be one of those days when Demyx suddenly felt the urge to go Karaoke and overruled the option to go watch a good action slash comedy movie.

"What's the point in watching the movie if I'm gonna be all fidgety and won't shut up three quarters of the time huh?" the dirty haired blond pointed out as he walked towards his favorite karaoke bar.

There were a few murmurs of agreement, most coming from his beloved sister and boyfriend.

"Anyways, you guys will _love_ this place, the rooms are totally sound proof and nobody can hear you sing from the outside and you can't hear other people go off key!" he practically skipped a few steps ahead before he jumped a step ahead and whirled around, "The guy even gives free popcorn!!" he cried out excitedly.

"Alright, just stop talking and lead the way," the red head spoke exasperatedly. His lecturer had given them a sudden pop quiz on the principles and fundamentals of Business Economics. Sure he had been studying and revising, but he wasn't fully prepared.

So, to say the least, he had actually just wanted to spend a relaxing after class time with everybody and then go home to snooze the rest of the day away.

But it didn't go according to plan when Roxas suddenly wanted to watch a movie. Of course, Axel didn't really wanna deny him that pleasure. And besides, it's been a while since he had gone to the cinemas.

And then suddenly, Demyx decided to wanna go karaoke, and when Namine agreed, Roxas ended up agreeing as well. And Zexion too, it goes without saying.

Axel sighed and rubbed his temple as the bubbly musician continued on rambling away as he led them to the karaoke bar.

The shorter boy noticed the tired state that the red head was in and couldn't help but feel concerned, "Are you ok?"

The red head looked over at Roxas and smiled, "Yeah, I'm cool."

"Are you sure? You look tired."

Axel sighed again, "Yeah, sort of." He ran his fingers through his hair as he continued walking three steps away from Demyx, his sister, and his boyfriend. "There was a sudden pop quiz today in class which I was totally unprepared for."

Roxas laughed, "Didn't study?"

"Didn't know what I was studying for, and I did _not_ know about that test." He reasoned as he gave a deadpanned look.

"There's a thing called revision."

"Don't back-sass me." He accused Roxas with a harsh point of the finger who merely laughed at the reaction that Axel gave.

The red head relaxed and laughed along with him and he found that he really enjoyed the little moments that he shared with Roxas. Even with just his presence, he felt his life growing brighter and livelier with each passing day. He made him feel almost, complete or whole, or something close to being normal.

You know? Normal as in like, those people who can see color everyday but take their sight completely for granted.

For Axel, this was like, being reborn again and this time, he's going to enjoy every second of it.

The walk towards the karaoke bar that Demyx kept on raving about was a mere ten minutes walk away from the university campus. It would've probably taken less if Demyx hadn't stalled half the time.

It was in a plain building, one that didn't stick out too much but it still blended in nicely with the rest of the way the block looked. They walked through the open doors and walked up the stairs to the second floor.

There, Demyx happily greeted the owner, who was a fairly old man with short, graying hair, a short stature and a sort of hunched back, before he asked for a room then whirled around towards the rest of the group.

"It's thirty five bucks for an hour by the way, fork over seven. I'll pay for you Zex and Nami."

"I can pay." The two said people spoke at once. "I can totally handle myself Demyx," Namine pouted, "I insist that I pay for myself." Zexion spoke as he moved to take his wallet out from his bag.

"No way man, I dragged you guys all the way here, it's only fair." He grinned as he took out two notes from his wallet and placed it down on the counter table for the owner to take and count.

Axel felt his eye twitch as he reached over for his wallet from his bag and pulled out a bill and some coins, "Best friend for years and he's making me pay? Bullshit." He mumbled in absolute dismay as he handed over the cash, "Namine, I understand, being the sister and all. But Zex? Come on…" he whined as he stuck his wallet back into his messenger bag.

Roxas merely grinned as he gave his share.

Eventually, after the payment and change was accounted for, the owner typed in something into his computer and finally walked around the counter to lead the group towards a room where a large TV beamed at them from the wall and the controls blinked at them from beneath it and the microphones screamed for them to be caressed.

There was a small disco ball on the ceiling and even an air-con sitting quietly by the corner.

After the man left the room, Demyx immediately darted for one of the four song folders that sat on top of the table then flipped through it and started inputting numbers and codes into a remote for the songs he wanted to sing.

And when the first song started, the disco lights came to life, and the old man came back in with a tub of popcorn. The singer immediately jumped for it and promptly forgot his cue to start.

Axel frowned as he looked at the song titles of another folder that he picked up after he sat down on one of the three couches around the medium sized room. "I can never actually pick what songs I wanna sing last minute."

Roxas let out a sudden laugh, "Yeah, same here." He smiled sheepishly as he watched the dirty haired blond sing enthusiastically to a particular song by Secondhand Serenade. A fairly new music group that was just recently introduced to the world of fame and fortune.

"Oh, have you ever heard of the Great Escape by Boys like Girls?" the red head asked as he pointed to a spot in the book.

"Great Escape?" he leaned over to get a better look, "Boys like Girls?"

"Ok, I guess that's a no." he laughed and picked up the remote lying on top of the table and started pushing in numbers. "It's a nice song, in my opinion."

"Cool."

"Ok, here, pick a song." He picked up the folder with one hand and dropped it on the boy's knees.

"What? But I can't just-" he sputtered out as he stared at the red head and then to the list of music again.

"Just look around for whatever. There's still like….ten more of Demyx's songs to go before yours, so yeah. Take your time." He grinned as he placed the remote back onto the table, picked up a few pieces of popcorn, crossed one leg over his other and leaned back to relax on the couch. "What? You have a bad voice?" he smirked as he popped one into his mouth.

Roxas frowned and immediately started searching for any song title he was familiar with.

The red head thought that he looked rather cute with a pouty look.

In truth, the blond liked a lot of songs, but he didn't have the voice to match. Sure he could sing, but he wouldn't be able to scream out the lyrics that Demyx was so fond of doing right now to a particular song by Taking Back Sunday. Half of the queue was filled with songs from that band.

He hesitated between inputting the numbers into the remote and looking for another song as he eyed a particular song title, but he decided to bookmark that page for now and look around the rest of the book until it came closer to his turn.

During one of the other songs that the dirty haired blond sang, he played air guitar and almost kicked the coffee table over. The slate haired boy let out a quiet sigh but he couldn't help but smile when he saw that Demyx was having fun.

When it came to his last song in the queue before the red head's, Roxas had yet to choose one.

"Come on, just pick one already. Even Namine and Zexion are gonna sing" Axel spoke as he sat forward and picked up a few of the last popcorns and leaned back on the couch, "What, do you really have a bad voice?" he teased as he tilted his head up, tossed a popcorn in the air and caught it in his mouth.

He frowned at the red head, "You said I could take my time," he retorted, "But…I'm still deciding."

"You've been trying to decide for like almost half an hour already." He sighed exasperatedly as he pulled at the neck line of his shirt. The room was starting to get a little warm, and he was only just wearing a t-shirt. "You need any help in choosing?"

"No, I'm ok." He insisted as he watched the red head try to cool himself down with a wave of his hand. And it wasn't until then, that Roxas felt the warmth of the room creep up to him. It started to get a little stuffy and a little itchy, so after he flipped back to the first song he had bookmarked and pushed the buttons on the remote to put it up on queue, Roxas threw the folder onto the table and proceeded to take off his jacket, leaving him wearing only his sleeveless, zip up jacket.

"Hey, hey, strip tease." Axel grinned as he shifted on the couch to get a better view.

Demyx, who heard what the red head said, started laughing into the microphone and couldn't manage to get back on track with the lyrics. Instead, he just tossed the mic to the red head and continued to laugh away.

It wasn't that funny after half a minute but Demyx continued to laugh as though it was the best joke he had ever heard.

Axel rolled his eyes as he focused on the screen for the words to appear and for the music to start. He remembered when he downloaded the song a few months ago and he listened to it day in and day out.

But it's been a while since he last listened to the particular song and couldn't quite remember all the lyrics. But at least there were lyrics showing up at the bottom of the screen.

He started singing and Roxas was mildly impressed with his voice. For some reason, the blond had expected the red head to sing songs that were more hard core rock type. Like the screaming ones that Demyx sang.

He sat back into the couch and listened as the red head sing while he made a mental note to download the song when he got the chance.

Half way through the song, the colors of the words and the video mixed and blended in so much, that Axel lost his place. It was sort of unfortunate that it was that way in the part of the song he had no memory of. His voice trailed off to a horrible mutter and Demyx couldn't help but snicker at the misfortune of the red head.

Zexion and Namine looked caught in between sympathetic and trying not to laugh.

"Well shit…That was so not fucking funny." Axel quirked up an eyebrow in annoyance and handed the mic over to the blond. "Ok, I've got a headache." He sighed as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Are you ok?" the blond tried not to laugh as he took the mic while the dirty haired blond reached for the second microphone and continued singing for Axel.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Headaches are a daily occurrence for me." He reasoned with a slight wave of the hand.

The song ended and a new tune began. And immediately, Axel's head perked up. "Hey! I totally know this song." He grinned as he looked over towards his best friend, "Dem, toss me the mic, I'll sing with Roxas." He got ready to catch the mic which fell into his hands and he turned to the said person, "We can have a duet."

"A du-A duet?" he stuttered out but Axel already started singing without looking at the screen, as though he had every word memorized into his mind.

Mid way through the first verse, the red head nudged Roxas who hesitated a moment before he started to sing along with Axel.

It was sort of nice, how Axel could synchronize his voice to match with Roxas'. Either sing higher by a key, or lower by another.

When the end of the song came, after he handed the mic over to the only girl in the room, the red head gave a hearty pat on Roxas' back, "See? It wasn't that bad, you can totally sing." He grinned as he sat back on the couch.

Namine sang a duet with her brother, some Utada Hikaru songs, and Roxas couldn't help but comment that she had a nice voice.

It was then, Axel felt a small twinge of jealousy pierce his heart.

* * *

Gasp? What is this? Axel is jealous of Namine? (Snorts) He's got some sort of issue with her in all of my stories. What a pity. 


	14. The Beach, The Call and The Drive

My computer crashed, and you how freaked out I was? Like…SO FREAKED OUT! And you know what I was thinking? I was thinking, OMG WHY DIDN'T I MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF MY STUFFS?! So like…after the computer was restarted and left alone for a good 5 minutes or so, I switched it back on and it was ok again! One can only hope… 

Every time I listen to Chris Daughtry's 'Over You', I think of Axel singing it...which is kind of weird to be honest. Lawls…(You'll only get the poorly executed joke if you've already read **FAC**.)

Anyways, this chapter starts off…with the usual trio of Sora, Kairi and Riku! Got a problem with it? Then maybe you can skip it. Maybe! Lols. Maybe…

* * *

The gentle wind breezed through the leaves of the palm trees, various coconut trees, and a few Paopu fruit trees that were planted around the tiny land mass not too far off the beach of Destiny Island. 

At the docks that led to the tiny island, were three small boats, fit for one person each, tied up to the wooden poles which ensured that they will still be there regardless of how much time passed from when they first arrived.

The calm wind caressed the ocean and made placid ripples. The water came in small soft waves towards the beach, occasionally picking up sand as it came, and leaving some behind when it left.

Past the docks, across the sandy beach, towards the small hut and up the stairs that would lead to a bridge that connected one island to another, three people stood in comfortable silence as they contemplated their next move.

The sun dipped over the ocean horizon and dyed the sky a beautiful mixture of orange and red.

"What are we gonna do?" a girl asked as she stared over the horizon.

There was a short moment of silence before somebody answered her, "Whatever we wanna do." A nonchalant shrug came from the tallest and possibly the oldest from the group.

She sighed as she brought her hand up and tucked her hair behind her ear, "It's been a while, do you think-"

Somebody shook their head, his wild, unruly hair followed, "They wouldn't. I'm sure of it."

"It's starting." The tallest of the group crossed his arms and leaned back on the trunk of a weirdly shaped fruit tree.

"It started already." The other boy corrected, "And we're gonna make the most of it." the corners of his lips tugged into a grin.

"Should we tell them first?" the girl suggested as she got herself up on the trunk of the fruit tree and sat on it while she watched her two companions.

The both of them shook their heads, "It'll be a surprise." One of them said.

"We'll tell them when we get there. Less chance for them to escape." The other one smirked at his suggestion.

She giggled behind her hand and swung her legs to and fro, "What are we gonna do when we get there?" she asked as she looked away from her friends and stared at the setting sun.

The shorter of the two boys gripped his chin in thought and finally clicked his fingers together, "Rollerblading."

"Paintball shooting." The older one suggested over the brunet's idea.

"Korean buffet." He tried again.

"Sushi train."

The girl clapped her hands together, "Karaoke and ice skating!"

The two boys groaned at her suggestion.

It was the beginning of their holidays.

* * *

A happy giggle filtered through the air joined with the sounds of combat from the TV screen. 

The two boys happily battled out their skills in a virtual simulation game from a console. So far, the younger of the two was losing by three rounds.

The brunet muttered out his disappointment as he dragged the controller through the air as he tried to maneuver a kick towards his opponent. He tried his best not to mash the buttons in an attempt to cheat his way to victory.

The silver-haired boy merely rolled his eyes as he kept his controller still and his eyes focused on the screen, his fingers skillfully tapped away on the buttons.

"Really? No way!" the girl spoke into the phone as she had a hand in front of her mouth, she giggled again. "Roxas? Seriously?! No _way_!" she giggled again, louder than before but this time, the brunet hit the paused button and whirled around to the girl.

"What about Roxas?"

"In a minute Sora." She dismissed her friend as she went back to her phone conversation, "That obvious? I can't wait to see this!"

The brunet let his jaw drop in outrage then turned to his friend, "She just dissed me!"

The silver haired boy smirked as he made a whipping motion along with a whipping noise, "Sora, you're whipped."

"Shut up Riku and get back to the game." He pouted as he picked up his controller and continue the game, landing three good hits before the said person even got ready.

"Hey, I'm not the one getting snubbed by his girlfriend." He shrugged as he kept a smirk on his face.

The brunet made a growling noise as he glared at the screen with all his might and bashed the buttons in an attempt to release his anger.

Another giggle resonated through the air, "Like, oh my _gosh_, who would've thought?!"

The brunet scoffed, "I wonder who she's talking to."

"Who _else_ is she talking to?" the other boy rolled his eyes as he defeated his friend in another round.

"Damn it." he swore as the game screen went back to the character selection part, "Her cousin no doubt."

"No doubt." He repeated as he chose a petite short haired girl as the character to fight with.

"Gonna start packing tonight?" he asked as he chose a buff looking fighter with a funky hairdo.

The battle commenced and immediately, the girl started a chain of combos, taking out at least half of the guy's health points. The brunet cursed.

"I've already got a mental list of what to bring. Besides, it's only two weeks. Not even two weeks," he corrected himself, "We don't need to pack that much. Just enough to go by."

"Yeah, tell that to Kairi. She feels like she need to bring her whole damn wardrobe with her." At the end of that comment, the said person threw a banana to Sora's head. "Kai!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to conversing on the phone, "Anyways, I can't wait to see you guys."

As the brunet turned back to the screen, he scowled when he saw that he lost again and Riku was eating the banana. _His_ banana. "Dude. Just whose house do you think this is?" he asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

The silver haired boy turned to his best friend and swallowed, "We're practically family right? And besides, sharing is caring."

Sora snorted, "Oh yeah…we're totally brothers." He spoke sarcastically as he started picking out which character he wanted to fight with next.

The day went on with the two boys fighting each other and the girl talking over on the phone.

Sora lost to Riku by ten rounds.

* * *

The next day, where the sun shone brightly and the clouds were sparse, five people gathered outside a particular house. They hugged, spoke their goodbyes and entered silver Nissan Skyline. The engine of the car was started and the window from three sides slid down and out poked three heads from their seat respectively. 

"Bye mum, bye dad!" Sora called out from the passenger seat. "See you in two weeks!"

"Less than two weeks." His silver haired friend corrected as he waved at the brunette woman standing by her husband at the entrance of the house. "See you Mr. and Mrs. Harada, I'll be sure to look after them."

"Bye Sora, bye Riku, bye Kairi! Take care!" the mother of the brunet boy smiled and waved happily as the silver haired boy ducked back in and reversed out of the drive way onto the road.

"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Harada! I'll be sure to buy souvenirs for you!" the girl in the back seat shouted out as they sunk into the distance.

"Put on your seatbelts!!" the woman cried out as she waved at them and watched as Sora and Kairi ducked back into the car.

Once they were out of sight, she sighed contentedly and turned back to her husband, "So dear, what would you like to have for dinner tonight?" she asked with a smile.

The corner of the man's eyes crinkled in a smile, "Why don't you relax for the day and I'll fix us up a nice candlelit dinner?" he smiled as he gathered his wife in his arms and kissed her on her lips.

She giggled, "What a gentleman."

* * *

Yeah, I know. Maybe the last bit with the parents were a mood killer, lols. But don't worry, we'll get back to our beloved Axel and Roxas next chapter. 


	15. And the Winner is?

So, did you guy enjoy the last chapter? I was sort of trying not to laugh my head off at the last bit. But dude…don't ask me why, it was sort of weird but sort of cute at the same time. Oh wells, you win some, you lose some eh?

* * *

A familiar song echoed through the lecture hall and a few people started to pat around their bags and jackets in search of their hand held device. 

Their teacher growled in frustration at the sudden interrubption but kept his anger at bay as he rubbed his temple and waited for the noise to halt.

"Sorry! My fault!" a certain student called out as he raised his hand and with a sheepish grin, he scurried towards the exit of the room and answered the call.

Another sigh escaped the older man's lips before he continued on the lesson without care of one missing student.

"Hello?" Axel answered with a hushed voice, the door held ajar in a small attempt to listen in.

"Hey-Are you busy?"

"Um…" he peeked back into the class and noticed that his lecturer was just going through the notes that he had already read yesterday, "Not really, sort of, why?"

"Oh, are you still in class?"

"Um…Yeah." He laughed quietly and looked at the screen projector. It was even harder to look at it from the very back, all the colors mixed in far too much for his eyes to handle and it was a mess of black and white with horrible mixes of gray here and there.

"Sorry, I'll call you back later."

"Nah, nah." He hurriedly spoke into his phone, "It's almost finished, what's up?"

"Uh well, I was gonna ask if you wanted to get something to eat or whatever."

"Yeah, I can do that, my class should be over in like ten minutes. Think your stomach can wait?" he smirked into the phone and he heard a scoff from the other end.

"Oh yeah, as if I don't eat something in the next five minutes, I'll combust."

Axel could hear the sarcasm oozing from Roxas' voice, "Just hold it in, ok, I gotta go, see you later."

"See ya."

The red head hung up and quietly made his way back into the room and sheepishly apologized one more time as he slipped into his seat.

Their teacher did not look amused, "Next time, silence your phone. I don't normally tolerate this Axel."

"Sorry Ansem, sir." He grinned as he scratched his cheek and continued on working silently for the rest of the class. He grinned every so often at the thought of meeting up with the boy who brightened up his life and world.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the class was dismissed and Axel was one of the first people to zoom out of the class in a hurry to go somewhere and meet someone. 

He rushed past the crowd towards the main part of the campus, and passed by his best friend without a second glance, (Demyx wondered if he was getting the silent treatment for ditching Axel for Zexion that last weekend…) and made it to his locker in less than one minute.

He fiddled around with his combination lock, pried it open, stuffed in the books he didn't need, slammed it shut, placed the padlock back on with a click and was out like a man caught on fire.

Suddenly, somewhere in his mind, something clicked and he halted in the middle of nowhere, and cursed very loudly which gained himself quite a few stares. He whipped out his phone and started to dial in a number.

He remembered that he had no idea where to meet Roxas.

The phone was answered mid-way into the second ring, "Hello."

"Hey, it's me again." the red head spoke as he scratched his head and sauntered off to the side so he didn't block the walk way.

"Hello me."

The red head heard bright laughter and he couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, I just realized that I have no idea where to meet you."

"Yeah, well, I'm about five steps away from you."

At that moment, the red head started to look around and suddenly spotted color not too far away sitting on a bench, "Huh…I wonder why I never noticed." The boy stuck out like a sore thumb.

Roxas waved at the red head, "Maybe because you're colorblind?" he laughed at his misfortune.

"Yeah…about that." He smiled sheepishly as he walked closer and then hung up. "That's not entirely-"

"Roxas!!" somebody called out to the said person and the red head fought the extreme urge to swear out a string of curses.

"Hey Olette." He waved and got up from his seat. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to ask if you wanna join us and go bowling." She looked up at the red head, "Is he your friend?"

"Yeah, this is Axel." He smiled as he turned to the said person, "And this is Olette. Say hello and shake hands."

"Hey." He greeted with a slight nod of the head.

"Hello!" she whole heartedly reached for his hand and started shaking it vigorously, "It's so nice to meet you! Would you like to join us for bowling?"

The red head was taken aback by the weird but overly friendly nature of the girl.

"What about bowling?" Roxas interjected and gained all of the bubbly girl's attention.

"Oh! A classmate of Hayner's gave him a coupon. Buy one game get the next game free!" she clapped her hands together in excitement, "I was on my way to meet them and then ring you up! But this is like, kill two birds with one stone."

Axel felt awkwardly out of place as he listened to one person talk to another. He wasn't too keen on spending time with random people he hardly knew. And…he never really learnt how to bowl either.

"Are you gonna come with us? It'll be fun!" the girl suddenly turned to the red head with a cheerful smile.

"Umm…" he looked away momentarily.

"Will you?" Roxas asked with an expectant look and Axel couldn't say no to those beautiful eyes.

"Yeah sure. I've got time."

"Excellent!" the girl going by the name of Olette clapped her hands together and then started to drag Roxas away who in turn, grabbed onto Axel's shirt and dragged him along too.

The red head found that he quite liked the attention he was getting and couldn't help but chuckle when Roxas protested that he could walk by himself, "O-Olette!"

It was not one minute of walking later that they ended up meeting with the other group. And after a brief greeting, the last two boys to be introduced to the red head wondered where and how Roxas picked him up.

The boy with the slick hairdo and multiple splodges on his pants spoke with a defiant stance, "Alright, I already looked at the map and if we decide to walk there, it's gonna end up taking like…five days and a half, so let's take my car instead." He suddenly whirled around and started walking away.

"Cool, no walking for us." The boy with the headband on his head grinned as he followed after the driver, the only girl in the group jogged after them, leaving behind the last two people.

"Um…is this really ok?" Axel asked uncomfortably, "I mean, if you want me to leave, I don't mind." He reasoned.

"It's cool, don't worry about it." he smiled as he started walking, "Besides, they seem to like you. More or less."

"Well, Olette and Pence seem nice enough, but er…"

"Hayner has that affect on everyone. Don't worry." He laughed and watched as Pence called shotgun to sit at the front, "Aww dammit, I wanted shotgun." He sighed and then pouted.

A grin creeped up on the red head's face as they walked closer to a black Mazda Familia.

"Hop in guys." The driver called out as he pulled the driver side door open and hopped in.

Pence pulled the slot for the front seat to come forward and allowed Olette to go in first, Roxas followed in second, and Axel awkwardly followed in third.

"Um, maybe I should sit at the back?" Pence offered after the red head got in.

"Hell no!" the blond who sat in the middle cried out after he got his seatbelt on.

"Yeah Pence, you'll squish us!" the girl teased with a giggle, her seatbelt already fastened.

"Man, you guys are mean…I'm big boned, not fat." He jutted out his lower lip and he pulled the seat back to normal, got in and adjusted the seat to allow room for the tall red head, "You ok back there?"

"I'm all good." He gave a thumb's up as he leaned back on the seat and found his position to be not quite so bad.

"Alright people, let's go bowling." He started the engine, got himself out of the parking spot and drove in the direction of the bowling alley.

* * *

They reached the place within ten minutes, filed out of the car and walked towards the large one storey building with a neon sign of a bowling ball above the entrance. 

"Hayner, pass the coupon?" Roxas asked as he extended a hand towards the said person who rummaged around his pockets and then handed it over. "Buy one game…shoe hire fee…does not include blah blah…" he muttered to himself as he read the fine print and suddenly let out a noise of disbelief, "Dude, did you know this expires today?"

"Yeah, that's why we decided to do it today." The boy shook his head as he walked through the automatic doors and was greeted with a breeze from the air-conditioner. "Smells like…feet." He scrunched his nose at the offending scent.

"Shoe hire, duh?" Olette grabbed the coupon right out of Roxas' fingers and waltzed up to the counter. "Hello, we'd like to have a lane for two games please? 5 people."

Pence sighed, "Ah Olette…ever the organizer."

The said person ignored him, "We also have a coupon for one free game."

The red head ignored the group as he took in the dull sight around him. He saw flashes coming from the disco lights, he saw the neon boards having above the end of the bowling lanes, he noticed the racks of bowling balls in different shades and he wondered if it was his eyes playing tricks on him or if they really meant something.

Axel sucked in a quiet breath and watched as another group of teenagers howled in laughter when their mate got a gutter-bowl. He watched them for a moment longer and tried to pick up hints and techniques from them.

Somebody called out to him and he vaguely turned his head in the voice's direction but his eyes were still stuck on the other players.

"Axel. What's your shoe size?"

"Er…I think I'm a size…11?" he guessed with a shrug. He never really knew, it really depends on the brand and store he buys his shoes from.

"Ok." He walked back up to the counter, asked the attendant for a shoe size of 11 and after he received it, he gave it to the red head.

They paid individually for one game and shoe hire and wrote their names down to be inputted into the computer to record their scores then walked towards their designated area. "Let's go, we're on lane ten." Roxas nudged his head towards his friends who were already putting on their shoes and tugged on the laces.

"So err…Rox, how often do you guys go bowling?" Axel asked as he sat down on the seat, pulled off his shoes and snuck on the other pair. "Damn…too small."

"Not a lot," his shoes were a little too big, "Hold up, mine are too big."

"What size are you?" he asked casually as he walked by the blond to the counter with only his socks on, Roxas too.

"I thought I was a 10."

The red head laughed, "Your feet are _tiny_."

The blond pouted as he asked the guy for a smaller size and the red head followed suit, except he asked for a bigger one, "I'm not the one with clown feet here."

"Hey, hey. I'll have you know that clowns have much, _much_ bigger feet than mine."

"No." he took the shoes that the attendant gave him, noticed that there were size 12 and handed it to the red head, "They wear _big_ shoes, they might not necessarily have big feet."

"Roxas, you hurt me so." He shook his head and sighed.

"Boo hoo." He rolled his eyes as he walked back up to the group who already started their game. Olette was first up and she managed to get five pins down. On her second try, she had two left standing and Pence went up after her.

They tugged their bowling shoes on, double knotted the laces and then Roxas motioned for the red head to follow him where the bowling ball racks were.

"Different colors have different weights. They have numbers on them too." The blond spoke as he picked up a number 8, held it in both hands and decided it was the right weight for him to handle. "Mine is bluish."

"Oh, ok." Axel stared at the item that Roxas held, nodded and looked around before he picked one up, decided it was too light, placed it back down and had a go at another. "Oh, numbers, right." He quirked up an eyebrow as he picked up twelve and thought it was a little too heavy. "I'll go with ten I guess." He shrugged casually, "What color is this?"

"It's pink." He smirked as he moved to go back to the booth and missed the cringe that came from the red head who decided to go with a size eleven.

'It's probably better than pink.' He reasoned as he followed after Roxas.

After Hayner, it was Roxas' turn and he managed to get himself a spare after his second try was over.

Axel, who had been watching, managed to get the gist of it, somewhat. So when it came to his turn, he was excited to knock some pins over. But he ended up getting a gutter-bowl.

Talk about embarrassing with a capital E…

The only thing that made it even worth it was hearing Roxas' laughter amongst his friends and he turned around with a sheepish grin on his face. The blond immediately went over to his rescue.

"You wanna try using mine? It's lighter." He offered as he gave the ball to the red head.

"Well yeah, but is that gonna help much?" he stared at the ball then back to the boy.

"A little goes a long way." He shrugged as he turned the red head to face the front. "Ok, you see those little triangles on the floor?" he pointed to the said items in the mid-way point of the lane.

"Er…yeah?"

"You match up with these, adjust your position and aim for the middle. And when you throw it, make sure you don't twist your arm, that's how yours went down first time." Hs grinned.

"Yes master." He replied almost sarcastically and heard a few snickers coming from behind him. No doubt Roxas' friends.

"You want me to show you and explain again?" he offered as he held his hands out.

"Yeah, that'll be a good idea, I'm a newbie after all." He handed the ball back and steered clear of Roxas.

"Ok. Make sure your sight and the ball is right, smack, bam in the middle of the pile and then swing, let go, but don't twist your wrist. Got that?" he spoke as he released the hold of the bowling ball and it went down the center of the lane and he managed to get a strike.

The red head was impressed and so were the others who howled out and cheered for the blond.

"Thank you, thank you." He bowed dramatically and grinned. "I'm charging you next time." He warned the red head with a point of the finger as he walked back to the booth and sat down while Olette stood up for her turn.

"Aw, and here I thought we were friends." Axel whined half heartedly and sat by him.

They continued to bowl the day away, and occasionally bought snacks and drinks from the food bar to share around. At one point, Pence had his fingers stuck in the holes of the bowling ball and he almost fell over when he swung it.

Lucky for him, after a bit of gentle handling on Olette's part, his thumb was wrenched free. He decided to find a bigger bowling ball and Hayner shouted out the suggestion of maybe going on a diet.

That comment earned him a smack on the head from the girl.

But all in all, Axel gained three new friends and he learnt how to bowl.

He came in third after Olette while Roxas was first, Pence fourth and Hayner dead last.

They teased him about it on the way towards his car.

* * *

Sometimes…I forget that Axel's colorblind. Lols. I will never do that to him ever again. Forgive me Axel. I torment you too much. 


	16. Quick and Slow Motions

Ho hum!

* * *

A certain red head hummed a tune as he walked out of his last class of the day with his messenger bag heavy with textbooks and notebooks of the like. His other hand held another work book which was simply too big and too heavy for his already burdened bag while his other hand reached into his pocket for his hand held device.

He punched in a number which he had memorized to heart and lifted his phone up to his ear with a small grin on his face.

It rang once, it rang twice, and halfway through the third ring, a familiar voice spoke to him, "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, wanna get something to eat?" he asked as he maneuvered around the student body towards the main part of campus.

"Oh." And then a wince was heard from the other side, "Um, I've already got plans with Namine."

In the background, despite the hustle, bustle of the crowd, he heard the girl ask what was wrong.

The grin slipped off his face as he dodged people left and right in an attempt to get closer to his locker, "What cha planning on doing?" he asked casually, careful to keep the disdain out of his voice.

"I was planning to go to the park with Namine, she's got another one of those impromptu homework stuffs to do."

"Oh." He raised his eyebrows in surprise, he knew that the girl was gifted in the department of arts, "Yeah? Do you mind if an extra person joined?"

"Guess not, but it'll be boring. We usually stay for about half an hour or so."

"I don't mind," he grinned as he raised his head in acknowledgement to another classmate who waved at him, "Hell," he scoffed into the phone, "It'll be better than being by myself." He reasoned as he walked up to his locker, placed the book that he was carrying on top of the locker and started to fiddle around with the combination lock.

He heard bright laughter resonate through the ear piece of his hand held device and a smile creeped up on his face again, "So, when are we meeting?" the red head asked as he pulled his locker opened, reached up for the book above his locker and threw it in.

"We'll wait for you at the park entrance where the sign is, got that?"

"Yup, I got it." he pulled up the flap that covered his bag and took out more unnecessary books and tossed them in. "Meet in five?"

"Yup, see you then."

"Ok, see ya Rox." He smiled as he hung up, stuck it back into his pocket and dragged out an item which he hadn't used in a long time. He stared at it with a hint of fondness and let out a quiet sigh. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked nobody in particular as he closed his locker and placed the lock on before walking off in the direction of the university park.

* * *

A blond boy conversed casually with a blonde girl as they waited for one last person to join them. They stood by the sign that said 'Twilight Park' and occasionally waved to a few familiar friends that passed them by.

The blonde talked about her homework, of how she needed to sketch a still life drawing of an inanimate object. Trees were out of the question, since she had already drawn them on her last impromptu assignment.

"What about the fountain?" the boy suggested as he pointed towards the said item at the center of the park, "It's got some elaborate designs on it, but I'm sure it's nothing you wouldn't be able to do." He commented with a smile.

"I'm really not as great as you think Roxas," she had a small smile on her face, "I mean, there's lots of other artists out there that are so much better than me."

"But you _are_ good and you're just gonna keep getting better."

"Oh Roxas, stop it." she waved off the comment with a slight blush.

The said person laughed at the reaction he got from the girl and as his laughter died down, he noticed something familiar flash from the corner of his eye and he turned around to see who or what it was.

He waved at the approaching red head and Namine did the same. Axel returned the gesture with a wave of his own and smiled as he jogged up to meet with them.

Roxas noticed a thin book that the red head carried in one hand and wondered if it was what he thought it was, "Is that a sketchbook?" he asked curiously.

"Yes indeed it is." He nodded, "So, where to?"

"Oh right." The blond looked back at the girl, "What are you planning on drawing?"

"I like your idea of drawing out the fountain, so let's find a spot near it." she started walking and the others followed her.

They spent less than five minutes with their eyes scanning and searching the area, and eventually, they found a spot under the tree with the fountain not more than fifteen meters away.

"You guys are more than welcome to go somewhere else you know?" she looked at them as she spoke while she opened her sketchbook.

"It's fine Namine, I don't mind." Roxas shook his head as he sat close by but not too close to the blond.

"I'm cool with anything." The red head grinned as he sat close to the blond.

"Ok," she smiled, "We can go get something to eat later, how about that?"

"Sounds awesome." Axel smiled and Roxas agreed with a nod of his head.

"Cool." She turned back to her sketchbook, poised a pencil over it and then glanced up to the fountain for a few seconds before she looked back down and started with a few strokes.

Roxas watched her for a few seconds just as Axel watched him before the blond decided to converse with the red head, "Hey Axel," he whispered, loud enough for the said person to hear but not loud enough to distract Namine, "I didn't know you could draw."

The red head quirked up an eyebrow at the question, "Just because I'm colorblind doesn't mean I can't draw." He retorted in a half hearted scowl.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way." He smiled sheepishly while the red head merely waved it off.

"Don't worry about it, I'm use to it, sort of." He grinned at the boy who looked unconvinced, "Seriously, don't worry about it."

Roxas sighed as he looked away with an air of guilt while he opened his sketchbook.

Axel caught the sudden drop in mood from the blond and wondered if he was really affected by his own words, but just as he was about to dismiss it, his eyes caught a familiar sight, "Hey, hey, what was that?" he asked as he leaned in closer to the blond and pointed at the book.

"What was what?" he asked as he looked at the red head, his book already opened to a new page.

"Turn back a few pages, I thought I saw something."

It took a while for the blond to register what the red head might've seen and a blush suddenly appeared on his cheeks, "No."

"No?" he raised his eyebrows as he stared at the blond.

"No." he repeated and held firmly onto his sketchbook to make sure that the red head wouldn't suddenly steal it or something.

Axel scoffed as he folded his arms and glared half heartedly at Roxas, "You're mean."

He rolled his eyes at the childish behavior, "Yeah well, deal with it."

"Fine." He repositioned himself so that he would fully face Roxas and flipped open his own sketchbook to a new, fresh page, pulled out his metallic pencil case from his messenger bag, popped it open for a pencil and started drawing.

The blond shook his head and smiled at the red head's antics. After one more glimpse at the red head, he decided that maybe it was a good opportunity to have another go at drawing him, while Namine continued her drawing of the fountain, occasionally looking up to catch another glimpse of detail before going back to add in more strokes to her black and white masterpiece.

* * *

Not fifteen minutes into their quiet art session, somebody's phone began to ring out in a melodious tune, making heads turn to his its source. The girl dropped her pencil and began to rummage around her white shoulder bag for her handheld device. She tucked behind a few strands of her pale blonde hair behind her ear before she pushed a button to answer it.

Roxas stared at her for a few seconds, unbeknownst to him that the red head close by took the small window of opportunity to steal a glance at the blonds' drawing.

He was impressed, by more than just a little, and was about to comment on it when he noticed the blond turning back and he quickly made himself look as though he wasn't just peeking.

The blond breathed in and continued on with the picture and half listened to the one-sided conversation that Namine was having over the phone.

Axel coughed into his hand and casually asked Roxas a question, "So, how long have you been drawing for?"

"Hmm?" he looked at the red head and considered the question, "Oh, I've been drawing for about…ten years now, but they're not as good as Namine's." he looked back down at his drawing.

"Practice makes perfect, but from what I can see, you're pretty good." He smiled as he nudged Roxas' shoulder with the pencil that he held.

He turned his head to Axel and raised an incredulous eyebrow, "Did you…peek?"

"Er…No! Of course not, but you know, I just saw a little bit and yeah…" he reasoned with a wave of his hand.

Just as Roxas opened his mouth to speak, a giggle filtered through the air, and gained the attention of the two students.

"No way! Seriously? Already?" she could hardly hold in her excitement as she talked into her phone, "Ok, yeah, I can totally meet you right now."

Disappointment coursed through the blond boy's veins as he listened to the one sided conversation that Namine was having, "Ok, I'll see you in five, bye." She hung up with a smile on her face and began to pack away her things along with her half finished drawing, "Hey Roxas," she turned to the said person as she placed her pencil case back into her shoulder bag, "I'm gonna go meet a good friend of mine ok?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. Ok."

"Ok, I'll see you guys tomorrow or something." She stood up, brushed away the strands of grass on her clothes and began to jog out of the park, "Bye!" she waved and was suddenly out of sight.

The blond sucked in a breath and turned back to the red head, "So er…What now?"

Axel shrugged and suddenly remembered what day it is, "Wanna check out the arcade? First Monday of the new month equals to some free credit." He grinned.

"Sure." He smiled as they started packing away their belongings and once they were done, Axel led the way to their new destination.

Once they arrived to the place, which was a mere five minute walk away from the park, the red head noticed the new change in layout and commented on how the workers here always do something different to it every week.

Roxas had suggested that it was probably something to do with space efficiency and Axel couldn't help but agree.

While the red head went off towards the counter to recharge his gaming card, the blond took a look around the area and wondered why and how he never came across this place before.

There were racing games, dancing games, gun games, drumming and guitar games, the odd horse riding game and some other various gaming consoles that littered about the area.

"Hey! Pac-man!" he abruptly cried out and pointed to the game with a childish grin on his face. He then remembered where he was and quietly calmed down and hoped nobody thought he was weird or anything.

The red head came up to him with a card in hand and laughed, "You wanna play it?" he offered as he waved the card about.

He smiled sheepishly, "No, I'm ok." He suddenly recalled that Axel was colorblind and was about to ask if he could play any games or not, but after he thought about it, even if he _was_ colorblind, he would still be able to play.

Maybe with a few mistakes here and there.

They stayed at the arcade for about half an hour minutes, going from one game to another. Roxas found that he really enjoyed playing first-shooter games with Axel, although his aim was a bit off compared to the expert of a red head.

They played a game of dancing and Axel told Roxas it was about watching with your ears and following the rhythm of the beat.

The blond thought it was rather weird, getting advice on how to dance on a game from the red head.

"Don't judge a book by its cover my friend." Axel grinned as he started to pick out the next song to dance to.

Half way through the last stage, Roxas' phone started going ringing and he had to hop off with an apologetic look as he dug around his pocket for his mobile, "Sorry Axel, I'll be right back."

"Yup, yup. I got cha covered." He smirked as he continued on with the song while Roxas moved to a different part of the arcade for some quiet.

"Hello?" he plugged one finger into his other ear to hear better.

"Hey Roxas, I've got a few friends for you to meet, wanna come see us?"

The blond heard some giggles at the back and he furrowed his eyebrows in pure confusion, "Um…ok?"

"Ok, cool. We're up in Twilight Park, see you in five?"

"Yeah, ok. See you later."

"Ok, bring Axel too if you want, bye!"

Roxas hung up and slowly walked back into the area where the red head was, "Hey Axel?"

"Yeah?" he was in the middle of pulling his messenger bag strap over his head. The blond assumed that the game was finished and over.

"Um…Namine wants us to meet some friends of hers?"

"And…your point?" he quirked up an eyebrow in question as the boy walked closer and picked up his own bag.

"Do you wanna come?"

"Er…Is that such a good idea?"

"I don't know." He shrugged nonchalantly, "But I don't wanna suffer through it alone." He practically begged without meaning to.

"Ok, I'll keep ya safe from the raving girls." He teased as he wrapped an arm around the other boy's shoulder.

At first, Roxas resisted the touch but eventually gave up with a shake of his head.

By the time they came back out, the skies were darkening (it was the middle of winter), the sidewalks were crowded with business men and women (it was the end of the working day), the streets were filled with cars, trucks, motor vehicles of the like with people trying to get home.

It was only just past five o'clock but it looked almost like the day of the apocalypse was coming, but if that was true, there would be even more chaos.

The pedestrians were almost just as bad, especially when they really wanted to get home, they pushed and shoved so they could catch the bus on time before it left.

Roxas sighed as he made his way through the crowd, and occasionally bumped into another person. He should've been used to this sort of situation by now, but it still overwhelmed him just a little bit. Axel seemed ok with it though, he dodged the people with a slide of his shoulders, used big steps to hurry on by without causing a disturbance.

Damn him and his long legs…

The pedestrian crossing light's started to flash red, signaling for either people to hurry up or stop where they are. Preferably at the sidewalks.

Roxas and Axel stopped at the edge of the side path, out of harms way of the vehicles that passed by and the last few people who ran across the intersection to their departing bus.

Hurried footsteps approached them, in a small effort to try and gun it.

Cars zoomed past at an almost reckless speed just so they could beat the yellow light before it turned red. Some traveled at twenty over the recommended speed limit.

The crossing turned back to red and the traffic started up again. More vehicles of the like accelerated past, some going slightly faster than others.

Hurried footsteps came to a sudden halt and an unexpected extra weight pushed itself upon the small blond boy who lost his balance and fell forward.

A shout and a scream filtered through the polluted air and Axel watched with horrified eyes as everything in his life suddenly slowed down.

* * *

Oh noes! I'm tormenting Axel again! (Cries) Forgive me! 


	17. Too much, Too soon

Roxas dies and The End….HAHAHAHAHAH! (Gets bashed with rocks and stones…)

Oww….can't you take a joke? (Gets knocked over the head with a book.)

Goddammit! (And a box of tissues.)

K.O!

* * *

The sands in the hourglass slowed for him. Through horrified green eyes, he watched as the boy fell forward into the oncoming traffic. He watched as a car drove closer and closer. He heard the tires of the car screech on the road and tried to stop on time. He tried to capture the boy but failed. 

His fingers slipped past the boy's collar. He missed by a hair's breadth. So close, he felt the fabric on the tips of his fingers.

So close, yet it wasn't close enough.

He stopped breathing.

Everything after that last moment happened as quick as lightning. He barely had enough time to register the hard impact that the boy had on the car that traveled at over the speed limit.

The screech that came from the tires echoed through the now still air. Smoke drifted slowly from the tires and the asphalt road blackened by its track.

The driver, eyes wide, stared helplessly at the boy a fair distance away. Too shocked to move, to say anything, to do anything.

They were all helpless.

Green eyes, that stared at the now empty spot slowly shifted to the large dent at the front of the dark blue vehicle, the broken glass and plastic in front of it and not too far away, a still body lay.

Screams resonated through air, followed by whispers, shouts and a flurry of motions.

"Somebody call the ambulance!!!" a man shouted as he rushed to the boy's aid.

Multiple phones were out but the same number was dialed in.

Axel remained still, his hand outstretched.

He felt something drip on his face, and he knew it wasn't rain. He knew it wasn't sweat. Too viscous to be anything like rain or sweat.

He was scared stiff, too horrified at what just happened to move. What was he supposed to do? He was too scared to do anything.

He didn't care when people pushed and shoved at him as they tried to get a better look or get as far away as they could.

He didn't know how long he had been standing still for, but before he knew it, sirens cried over the commotion of the people. Flashes of color entered his vision. Flashes of two different shades, two different colors. Unidentifiable colors.

Axel saw him through the gaps of a small crowd that surrounded him. They wanted to help, but they didn't want to touch him. Green eyes fell upon the still boy. His brightness mixed in with a horrible pool of something else.

He concluded that hated that color.

The ambulance stopped close by, people rushed out, ushered for the other pedestrians to stand back, get back from the boy, and let them do their job.

As soon as one of them touched the boy, Axel came back to his senses and finally rushed over to his side.

"Roxas!" he cried out, his anxiety, his worry, his urgency, all his emotion into one simple word. He wanted to hold him but he was afraid of hurting him.

"Do you know this boy?" one of the people that exited the ambulance spoke to him.

He kept his eyes on the boy but he turned his head towards the voice, "Yes, I know him." He spoke breathlessly, he felt like he couldn't breath, as though something was constricting his lungs. He watched helplessly as the stretcher was brought closer and the boy was very carefully placed on top of it. Like a fragile piece of delicate china.

They ignored the blood that covered the boy in large patches. It was their job to do this as carefully, as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

"Come with us." The man spoke with authority as he entered the back of the ambulance after the boy was placed in first.

Axel complied and watched as they felt for a pulse on the boy's neck, tried to clean the horrible color off the boy's face. They were careful not to touch any part of the boy they were not supposed to.

They asked him questions. Questions like what was the boy's name. How old he was. Where he lived, who are his parents, who they could possibly contact.

He couldn't answer any of them except the name part. He felt useless and wondered why he never took the time to ask Roxas any of those questions.

Sure, it may have been stupid before, but now, he really regretted never asking them.

He told them that maybe Namine would be able to help them.

He had been somewhat jealous that the girl knew more about the boy than he did, but now, he was grateful for her existence.

They reached the hospital within minutes and he ran along side them as they rushed into the emergency room and once they entered through the double doors, he stood motionless and noticed something flash on top of the door. He felt even more breathless than he did before.

He let out a strained sigh and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. When he brought it back down, he noticed the horrible color mixed in with his sweat and his heart rammed faster and harder into his rib cage.

He suddenly couldn't breathe as he ran to find a bathroom. He stormed through the door and rushed towards a tap.

In the mirror, he saw dots, spots, smears and smudges of that color on his face. It frightened him and he felt sick and nauseous.

He forced it down as he tore his eyes away and stared down at the black hole in the sink. He turned the tap on and threw handfuls of water on him. He wanted the color gone and off him.

After an agitated ten minutes in the bathroom as he tried to wash the color off him, he found himself in front of the emergency room again, in one of the many seats on either side of the white, white halls. Dazed and tired and worried and agitated. All at once.

His mind strayed back to the accident, replayed the scene, the sounds, and the colors. The color that bled out of Roxas. He hated that color. His mind was a constant blur.

He didn't register somebody coming up to him and asking him questions. A familiar voice mixed in with the shouts and questions of worry.

When he looked up, he almost cried out and jumped in surprise. But he realized that the boy wasn't who he thought he was.

He looked like him, yet, he looked nothing like him.

Axel's only evidence that the boy wasn't who he thought he was, was that there were no colors radiating and emanating from him.

He concluded that it was just a look-a-like and he proceeded to drown them out from his now dull, dull world.

* * *

When the nurses gave the ok for visitors to come in, he almost ran out of the room. 

It must've been him imagining things, he wasn't too sure, but he swore that the boy's colors looked as though they were fading away.

His hair no longer bright, still tinged with a small amount of that horrible color, his eyes closed…his skin looked almost sickly.

It scared Axel to look at him that way. He felt a wave of nausea crashed over him and he watched as four people rushed over to the sleeping boy's side while he stayed by the door, his arm braced on the wood for support.

He didn't want Roxas to die. They've only just met a month ago.

He barely paid the other occupants of the room any attention as he stepped closer. The girls cried, one of the boys took over one of the seats in the room and buried his messy hair in his hands while the other boy stood by with a comforting hand on the shoulder.

Bandages covered the boy around his head, his arms, and his legs. He didn't want to see what was underneath that hospital gown. There was a hardened cast on an arm and a leg.

He stood quietly by the sleeping boy, the machines monotonous tune punctuated over the sobs and stillness.

Axel slowly raised his hand and tentatively laid it over one of Roxas' own. His warm hand touched the boy's cool ones.

He replayed the words the doctors spoke to them earlier.

_Loss of blood._

_Broken rib bones._

_Broken arm._

_Broken leg._

_He's lucky to be alive._

He frowned at the doctor's choice of words. The girls had thrown themselves into a fit of tears after the doctor spoke to them. It left them all with a heavy heart. His heart was the heaviest of them all.

His eyes traveled up the boy's pale arm and they rested on the needle that was stuck into a vein. His eyes followed the needle that eventually led into a small tube which eventually led to a blood pack.

His eyes went back down to the needle and he concentrated on the blood. He tried to see if there was any color, any of that horrible color. But the only color he could see was black.

That didn't look too healthy. But being colorblind didn't help him.

He furrowed his eyebrows in worry and wondered if Roxas would be ok.

'Of _course_ he's gonna be ok.' He berated himself as he held onto the boy's hand.

"You're gonna be ok Rox." He whispered as he pulled a chair that was close by and sat down by the bed side. "You're gonna be ok."

He heard a sniff from behind him but he didn't turn back to see who it was. He didn't even move or flinch when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders.

"Roxas is gonna be ok." A familiar voice choked out through tears and sobs.

The red head suddenly felt tired but he raised his other hand and held onto the other person's arm, "He'll be ok Namine. Don't worry." He spoke quietly as he continued to watch the sleeping boy. "Roxas will be ok."

* * *

(Cries) I've done it again!!! What's with the drama?! Too much? Too fast? Too furious?! 

HAHAHAHHAHA!! (Not…)

Yeah, I know it's a bit short, but I love the drama of it all. Good things come in small packages? Lols.

I realized that there're probably a lot of mistakes, please feel free to give some feedback yeah? Thanks a bunch.

Last note, I'd like to apologized in advance, you know? In case anything like this has ever happened to you before, I'm really sorry, and I hope it doesn't bring back too many horrible memories for you.


	18. In and Out

Oh the melodramaticness…And that ain't even a real word, me thinks.

Anyways, thank you all for helping me reach the milestone of two hundred reviews!! Hugs and kisses everyone!!!

* * *

A haggard person stared back at him from behind the mirror. Water mixed with sweat dripped from his chin down onto the sink. A shaky breath escaped from his lips. The muscles from his arms tensed and rippled with stress.

He could still remember it. Could still hear it, as though he was right back where it all started.

The tires that screeched on the asphalt road, the horrible sickening thud of flesh on metal, and the pedestrians that screamed around him in panic.

It was so vivid. It was like watching a motion picture being played right in front of you. Except there were no cameras, no directors sitting on the chair, no stuntmen on stand by, just full-out action.

His blood was such a deep color, whatever color it was. He didn't want to think about it, but there was nothing else to think about.

His eyes continuously lost focus between the person in front of him and nothing in particular. It continuously switched back and forth, back and forth. He had nothing better to do.

It scared Axel to see so much of that horrible color flow out of Roxas' small body and he wished he didn't have to see that bright hair amongst the large puddle of blood.

He never knew what blood looked like. Or maybe he did, but he forgot.

It was his least favorite color in the whole entire world.

He refocused his eyes on the person in the mirror and stared. It looked like him, his reflection, but at the same time, it just didn't. He looked tired and just about ready to pass out onto the cold, tile floor of his bathroom.

He had just returned home after they were shooed away by the nurses who said that visiting hours were over. The damn bitches couldn't give them an extra five or ten minutes.

Another shaky breath escaped from his lips and a mirthless smile graced his face. Soon, a miserable laughter echoed through his quiet apartment bathroom.

Water dripped from the tips of his hair down onto the sink. And his miserable laughter turned into something more wild, frenzied and uncontrolled. Like an insane person.

It wasn't too far from the truth at that moment.

When he returned back to his apartment, as soon as he saw himself in the mirror when he walked into his room, he had thought that his hair was the same color as Roxas' blood and he immediately rushed into the bathroom and tried to wash his hair repeatedly in an effort to get rid of it.

But it was only his imagination. His paranoia.

His laughter turned into choked sobs as he forced his eyes down and hung his head over the sink.

'Aftershock.' He concluded as he watched the clear liquid drip down into the black hole of the basin.

He wished he never saw color in the first place, he wished he never saw any of _his_ colors in the first place. Those bright eyes, that brilliant hair…

He had been happy being colorblind all his life.

But ever since he saw Roxas, he had never felt so alive in his whole entire life.

Why do the bad things always have to come with the good?

It wasn't fair.

Nothing was ever fair. Not for him.

He exited the bathroom, retreated back into his room and promptly fell into a tired, dreamless slumber. But when he awoke in the middle of the night, just before midnight, he could've sworn he heard the tires screech in his ears loud and clear.

* * *

He went to visit Roxas again the next day. He even brought balloons and flowers this time. He was sure that Roxas would appreciate it. Somewhat.

Axel had to go through the whole trouble of asking the florist what flowers were good to give to somebody to 'Get well soon.' He even wrote a card and tucked it in the midst of the sunflowers.

He wasn't sure if the flowers really meant 'Get well soon' or not, but he'll have to take the florist's word for it. Apparently, bouquets of mixed flowers were a common gift for patients or whatever.

But he wanted to give something meaningful and heartfelt. Not a bunch of randomly placed flowers tied up with pretty paper and a nice ribbon.

Sunflowers weren't that bad of a choice though. The first time he had seen Roxas, he described his hair as something bright, much like the sun. So he thought it was a pretty good bouquet to give.

The closer he stepped towards the room, the more he felt his mood sink lower and lower. He was afraid to enter, but now that he was here with the balloons and flowers, he might as well head on in.

When he had entered the room, he had paused mid-step when he noticed that Roxas wasn't alone. There were the two boys and the girl from yesterday. He felt the mood sink down even further as he stepped into the room and quietly closed the door behind him.

He wasn't quite sure what to do as he hovered around the entrance. He averted his eyes away from the group of teenagers to the sleeping boy. He should've known that Roxas would still be sleeping, it was still too soon after the accident and surgery, but he couldn't help but hope.

"Roxas loves balloons." Somebody spoke to him and caught him off guard.

Axel opened his mouth to speak, but he decided not to because he felt something stupid might pour out of his mouth.

The boy continued, "When Roxas was a kid, I mean, when _we_ were kids," he corrected, "he would always try to fly away with a whole bunch of balloons." He spoke with a kind smile.

Axel felt his shoulders relax the more he imagined a short little kid holding onto a whole heap of balloons in a silly attempt to fly into the sky.

The corners of his lips turned into a smile and the other occupants of the room couldn't help but smile along with him.

"I'd always watched and wondered if it would work. Because if it did work, then I would've copied him and get myself a bunch of balloons as well." He laughed at himself as he ran his fingers through his messy hair. "Man…I wish mum caught a video of that. Roxas always threw a tantrum when it didn't work." The boy shook his head and raised one hand to hold his head up.

The boy sighed tiredly, "I wish…this accident never happened…" he spoke more to himself than to anybody else, but the words reached the ears of the other occupants of the room and the smile slowly faded away from Axel's face along with the image of a little boy stomping on the grass and kicking at the dirt.

A wave of guilt suddenly washed over him and he averted his eyes back to the sleeping boy. He noticed that his hair wasn't as bright and his skin was paler than he remembered.

He suddenly lost his breath the more he took in the color of the sleeping boy. He stepped forward to tie the balloons on the metal bars at the foot of the bed, left the bouquet of sunflowers by the bed side and made a hasty exit.

His excuse for a hurried retreat was that he left something behind in his class that's important to him.

He was out before he got to hear any responses from them.

But after he was a fair distance away, almost out of the white building, he thought to himself, 'What's more important than being by Roxas' side right now?'

Axel suddenly felt stupid for running out like that, but he made no move to go back.

* * *

Eyes filled with sadness couldn't tear themselves away from the half opened door. She sniffed once and finally got herself to stand up.

After she closed the door, she moved towards the bathroom and entered. The boys didn't move as they sat in their seats, too drained and tired to do anything productive.

All they could do was wait for the blond to wake up so they could spend some time together. That's what holidays are supposed to be about.

Their ears picked up the sound of running water and they assumed that she was merely washing her face. But they were proved wrong when she came out seconds later with a half filled vase of water.

She moved without a word towards the bedside of the sleeping boy, gently placed the vase down on the white table top, picked up the flowers and proceeded to unwrap them from the colorful ribbons and papers.

A small card fell out from the bunch and she bent over to pick it up but left it by the vase.

After she placed the flowers into the vase and fiddled around with the flowers a bit, she smiled contentedly and looked down at the blond.

She made no move to read the card. It wasn't meant for her.

She leaned over a little closer and raised a hand to brush away his blond bangs, "Come on Roxas," she smiled sadly, "Your friend came to visit you today and you just slept in like the lazy-pig that you are." She smiled gently as tears poured down her cheeks.

The boys watched with saddened expressions as she continued to talk to the blond.

"You were supposed to introduce us to your new friend yesterday." A sob escaped her lips and she tried to hold back her tears. "And then we were supposed to go ice skating today."

"Come on Kai, stop crying. You know how much Roxas likes to sleep in." one of the boys moved over to comfort her.

"But sleeping too much isn't good for you." She reasoned as she choked on another sob and sniffled.

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder in hopes that she would calm down just a little, "And since when did Roxas start listening to anything you ever said?" he tried to joke but the girl suddenly turned around and wept onto his clothes.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed in sadness and worry as he raised his arms and wrapped them around the crying girl, "It's ok Kai, we can still go ice skating next time."

"We were supposed to check out the new Japanese restaurant and eat dinner there tonight." She mumbled into his clothes.

The boy opened his mouth to speak but somebody else beat him to it, "When sleeping beauty wakes up, we'll make him treat us." The other boy, who was still seated in his chair, spoke with a half-hearted smirk, "Right Sora?"

The brunet smiled and nodded, "Right, Riku."

"Right Kairi?"

The girl sniffed and raised a thumb's up, "Right."

* * *

Shit…Is it me, or are the chapters getting shorter and shorter?

But anyways, good things come in small packages…I'll say that again. Lawls.


	19. Swear on my life

I apologize sincerely for the lack in chapter length! But I am unable to find any way to remedy it…Well, I probably can, but it'll mess up my flow. Lawls.

You don't want that, do you?

Anyways, I don't think I've ever said this…EVER! But I just wanna thank you for all the reviews, alerts and favs! Thank you all so much!

And Woot!! 10k hits!! I waffles all of you!!

And one more note – **321** make yourself an account so I can talk to you!!! Or let me reply properly, you know? Lawls.

* * *

Bleary eyes slowly opened to face a white, white ceiling. The room was dimly lit by the natural light that came from the blinds that prevented anymore sun from coming in. 

He tried to take a deep breath, but he winced when his chest started to hurt. He wondered what he had been doing the night before that caused him to be in so much agony.

"Oh my god, Roxas?" a girl's voice spoke in a sort of mixed relief and shocked kind of way. It sounded sort of faraway, or maybe she was just whispering.

The voice sounded familiar, but his mind was still too tired to comprehend. He could see her, but his vision was still blurred. But seriously though, who else had that color for hair and that amount of pink on for clothes?

"Kairi?" he managed out in a whisper. It hurt to talk.

Why did it feel like he got run over by a truck? He had no idea.

Two more figures appeared in his vision and one of them held a blurry hand up, "How many fingers Rox?" the one with brunet hair asked.

The blond squinted his eyes in an effort to see better, but it only got worse. "I don't know? Two?" he hazarded a guess.

The noise of a buzzer came from the brunet as he lowered his hand down, "Wrong. It was three you moron."

"Well sorry Sora," he spoke sarcastically even though it didn't quite come out that way, "I'm not quite awake yet, and what the fuck happened?" he asked out of curiosity as he tried to sit up but he found that the pain was just too much.

"You don't remember?" the boy with the silver hair asked.

Roxas tried to raise a hand to his face, but when it didn't move, he raised his other hand instead, "No…Did I go drinking or something?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, he found that it hurts just slightly, and then he suddenly remembered, "Dude…why the hell are you guys here?"

"Here as in Hollow Bastion? Or here as in hospital?" the girl asked.

His vision cleared up somewhat and he could see the worried looks on each of their faces, "Hospital?" he asked with an air of confusion, "I don't live in a hospital."

"You seriously don't remember?"

"Seriously Riku, would I be asking these questions if I _did_ remember?" he raised an eyebrow and stared.

"Maybe…It'll come back to you if you think about it." the brunet spoke and raised his hand again, "How many fingers?"

"Four, a thumb doesn't count."

"Hah, still a smartass." He shook his head and watched as the blond tried to get up only to painfully lie back down.

"Ok, what the fuck have I been on? I feel like shit. Did I get run over or something?" he swore colorfully as he drew in a painful breath and sighed.

"Roxas." The red haired girl started, "I want you to close your eyes and think for a minute."

The blond sighed again and complied, "Ok fine, but Sora, could you get off my arm? You're making it numb and I can't move it."

"Er…I'm not on your arm."

"Then who the fuck is?" he cursed as he raised his head high enough to see who or what was on it, only to see it wrapped up in a white cast. "What the fu-" his ears picked up a monotonous tune that came from nearby and he turned his head to look at what it was. A heart monitor, "Holy sh-" and quickly as that, his memories came flooding back into his mind.

He could see it happening so clearly, could feel the pain all over again.

The not-so-gentle push that made him fall over his footing, which eventually led to complete and total, mind-numbing darkness.

And then suddenly, the pain he felt increased ten-fold and he could feel every ache in his sore, bruised body.

"Holy _shit_!" he bolted straight up which didn't help to make the pain go away, "_Fuck_!" he swore as the pain in his chest rippled over him.

"Roxas! You should lie down!" Kairi and Sora wanted to push him down onto the bed to rest but they didn't want to hurt him any more than he was already.

The pleas that came from his friends fell on deaf ears as he continued to panic in his own little world, "Oh my god. I remember." He spoke in an almost whisper.

The pain became bearable and he looked from his plastered arm that wouldn't budge to the bandaged arm. It hurt to wiggle his fingers.

He must've scrapped them pretty good, he figured.

And when he tried to wiggle his toes, only one foot responded.

His breathing grew louder and slightly more rushed and he could hear the machine beat faster in rhythm with his own heart. He grabbed the sheets with his only good arm and pulled away to see both legs in the same state as his arms. One leg was alleviated with the use of two pillows.

Questions flowed into his mind. One after another and his mouth and brain couldn't find anyway to co-operate and allow him to speak.

What did he do to deserve this?

Why did this have to happen to him?

Who was the idiot that pushed him into the traffic?

Who was the moron that drove over the speed limit?

Why did the pedestrian light have to turn red?

Why were people in such a hurry to go home?

How long was he out for?

Where was Axel?

The last thought confused him and he couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. He wondered why, of all people, did Axel suddenly pop into his mind?

'Maybe because he was there to see it happen.' He reasoned and finally forced his eyes to look away from his battered body to stare at nothing in particular in front of him.

His line of vision was suddenly blocked by a hand that waved in front of him and he finally zonked out of his thoughts to see a doctor beside him.

"Good, he's responsive." The older man, with black hair but some streaks of white, nodded once and placed the ear pieces of a doctor-type instrument into his ear and pulled the end of it up to the blonds' chest. "Could you take a deep breath for me?"

Roxas complied and did as he was told, with a bit of difficulty. To the side, he noticed his friends looking at him with looks of complete worry.

"And another?" the older man asked again as he moved the stethoscope around the blonds' chest and Roxas repeated the breathing exercise once more. Once it was over, the doctor nodded, pulled out the ear pieces of the stethoscope, left it around his neck and picked up the chart board at the end of the bed.

It was only then did Roxas notice the balloons tied up at the corners and he couldn't help but tilt his head just a bit at the sight.

He heard a cough from beside him and he turned his head to the doctor once again, "How're you feeling?" he asked as he adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses.

"Sore?" there were far too many words to describe how he was feeling right now. But the best one would be, 'Like I got run over by a car' which was sort of funny, because it did sort of happen.

"If you'd like, I could get a nurse to give you a dose of morphine." He offered.

He quickly shook his head, and it hurt a bit when he did, "No thanks." He didn't want to turn into a junky or whatever.

"If you insist." He flipped over to another page, "You'll be stuck in bed for about a month or two. The bones need to mend themselves, but once the cast comes off, you'll go into rehab."

"Rehab?"

"Yes."

Well of course he had to go into rehab, now that he thought about it. A broken arm and a broken leg. He'll have to learn how to walk and write all over again.

"For how long?" he asked worriedly. University exams were just around the corner. He needed to study, and catch up whatever classes he missed. He sincerely hoped it wasn't too many.

"Two months or so." He noticed the look of pure shock coming from his patient's face, "It all depends on your progress."

It still didn't make Roxas feel any better. At this rate, he'd end up repeating the whole year of university again.

"Great. Just great." He spoke sarcastically as the doctor moved towards the end of the bed, deposited the chart back into its rightful place and moved towards the door.

"Don't hesitate to call if you need anything." He offered as he grabbed the doorknob, twisted it open and left.

Once the door closed with a click, he raised his not-so-good hand but good-enough-for-now to his face and sighed, "Well fuck. I flunked my first year of college. Great huh?" he spoke with much sarcasm and the three other people of the room couldn't help but give a sympathetic smile. "How long have I been out for?"

"About a week." Riku shrugged as he stretched his back and it popped three times which irked the girl.

"Great way to start your holiday huh?" he smiled ruefully and quickly changed the subject, "Have Mum and Dad come over yet?"

"Yeah, of course!" the brunet cried out, "Your mum couldn't stop crying! And your dad just kept pacing around the room."

"Your parents left like, an hour ago to try and sort out some insurance stuffs." The silver haired boy waved his arm casually.

"Namine left five minutes before you woke up to go to class. What bad timing." Kairi shook her head in dismay, "She was so worried about you, we _all_ were."

"Sorry I made you guys worry." The blond apologized.

"Hey, what're friends for right?" Sora smiled and gave a thumb's up.

"Yeah, you owe us dinner by the way." Riku pouted.

"What?!" Roxas cried out in shock, "What the fuck for?"

"For making us worry! That's what!" Kairi looked almost as though she was about to smack the blond on the arm but resisted and turned her attention to the flowers, "Oh! This is for you by the way." She pointed to the sunflowers and picked up the small cards for the blond.

"Who is it from?" he asked as he took the card and flipped it open.

"Your friend, the guy with the crazy red hair." The silver haired boy answered for her.

"He always comes with balloons and some sunflowers." Kairi smiled as she carefully sat on the bed, making sure she wasn't going to hurt him before she relaxed a bit. "He's nice."

'Hope you like balloons and flowers Rox, get well soon.' The blond smiled halfway into reading the card. "So that's why the balloons are there." The other cards said roughly the same thing, but the handwriting got messier and messier each time. But it all depended on which order he was reading from, it could've been the other way around.

"Yeah, hope you don't mind me telling him about your balloon fetish." The brunet smiled sheepishly.

"Balloon-You told him that? Sora!" he cried out and the said person started laughing, knowing that he was a safe distance away from being hurt. The others laughed along with him while the blond merely tried to look as though he was angry even though he wasn't.

Once the laughter died down, Kairi started to talk again, "Namine said she'll come by after class. Oh my gosh, she is going to be _so_ excited!" she clapped her hands together and jumped up in happiness. "I can't wait to see her face."

"Yeah. Me neither." He smiled as he looked back down at the card and then to the sunflowers beside his bed, to the balloons at the foot of his bed.

He couldn't help but wonder when he'll see Axel again.

* * *

There, drama gone! For now, at least. Muahahhaa… 


	20. Through his eyes

Twenty chapters! Woot! Thank you all for sticking with me so far!!!

* * *

During the week that Roxas had been out, the only effort Axel ever made to go see the sleeping boy was when he was forced to go over by a certain girl. But he'd always bring himself to buy some balloons and flowers for the kid though. Especially the balloons since he knew that Roxas liked them.

He could only hope that Roxas wouldn't try to fly away with them like he tried when he was a kid.

A wide grin threatened to crack his face in half as he stared up at the balloons. But as soon as he remembered what they were for again, his smile faded away and his mood sunk to the depths of his torn heart.

He had only visited Roxas about four times during that week. Once after the accident, the day after, a couple of days after and a couple of days after that. After that last visit though, he couldn't bring himself to go again.

But today, just a couple of days after his last visit, Namine came up to him and asked if they could go see Roxas together again. He was a bit reluctant to go. To see what state Roxas was in. But he figured that if he was at all a good friend, he should go see him. A good friend would've gone to see him everyday and hope that he would get better, but he only went every couple of days. So he gave in.

"Come on Axel, cheer up a little. Please?" the petite girl asked with a sincere smile as they walked closer to the boy's room.

"Yeah, I can try." He offered with a weak smile. But seriously, how could he force himself to be happy when the person he cared about was hurt and confined to a bed. Maybe possibly stuck in a coma.

"Have you met Sora, Riku and Kairi yet?"

"Who?"

"The brunet guy, the red head girl and the silver haired guy." She explained.

He still had no idea who they were, but he could guess who they possibly might be, "Oh, right, yeah, I've met them but we didn't introduce ourselves." he's only seen them twice, or maybe three times.

"Oh, that's fine. We can do it today." She smiled as they approached the door.

He was starting to wonder why she was so happy. Maybe Roxas was getting better? He could only hope.

She grabbed hold of the doorknob, opened it very slowly and peeked through the small gap very cautiously before she smiled and went inside, "Hey guys, look who I brought."

"Who?" they asked simultaneously as the both new visitors entered the room.

Axel remained still by the doorway as his eyes took in the boy who was no longer asleep. His grip on the strings that held onto the balloons loosened and they flew up to the ceiling.

His lips tugged up into a smile and he took a step forward, but he stopped himself when he noticed something different about Roxas.

"You-" he started and wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. His smile cracked.

Roxas' hair, his hair that used to shine so brilliantly like the sun, was dull and pale. His eyes that used to sparkle so brightly, was washed out and faded. His soft colored skin looked…they didn't look like they had any color on them and they melded perfectly with his white, white hospital shirt.

"Hey Axel." Roxas was the first to speak. "Nice to see you again."

"You-" he swallowed his nerves and tried to speak normally, "You ok?" he asked weakly even though he knew the real answer.

"Yeah, I'm ok." He smiled.

His smile was softer, still bright, but not as intense as Axel first remembered seeing it. They looked worn out and tired.

And suddenly, all the guilt and then some, came crashing back down on him and he felt his presence waver in front of the boy and his friends.

Axel kept on thinking;

If only I got to him first.

If only it was me in his place instead.

If only that guy wasn't in such a hurry to catch his stupid bus ride home.

If only the idiotic driver hadn't been in such a hurry to get back home.

He noticed everybody in the room staring at him with quizzical and worried eyes. He must really look like a freak to them right now.

But instead of just laughing it off like some crazy idiot, like he normally would around Demyx and the others, he just pulled the balloons back down, tied them to the bed, gave a half hearted smile to Roxas, apologized and said he had to be somewhere else before he walked out of the room and left.

Somewhere, halfway down the hallway, he felt his heart hurt even more as it wretched itself in complete guilt when he heard his name being called out by the one person he truly cared about.

The one person he really wished he could spend the rest of his life with.

* * *

"Axel!!" Roxas called out one more time as Namine ran out of the door to find the red head.

He didn't get it. Didn't get why Axel left the way he did. Didn't get why it had hurt so much to see him leave. They didn't even have the chance to talk and catch up yet.

His whole chest hurt and he wondered why it hurt so much. It felt as though it was the accident all over again, except that this time, he was wide awake to experience every agonizing pain that rippled over his body.

* * *

"Axel!!" she cried out as she chased after him in her white shoes.

He quickened his pace and dodged the people in the hospital hallway left and right before he dashed past a corner and quickly power-walked out of the building.

The dash of red hair suddenly disappeared and she huffed with each tired breath she took. She never really did do a great job during physical education back in the high school days. But it's not like she never put in any effort into it. But it just wasn't ever good enough.

She took a deep breath and called out one more time, "Axel!! Would you stop for a second?!" she was at her limit and when she finally turned the corner, she stopped and doubled over so that she could support her top weight on her knees. "Oh Axel." There was no sign of red hair in sight.

She closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breathing pattern back to normal and politely declined any help from nurses and doctors that passed by.

'Roxas is going to be so disappointed…' she thought miserably as she thought back to that conversation she had with her beloved sibling a couple of weeks ago.

* * *

"_So, Axel huh?" the blonde girl started as she stood inside the doorway that led into her brother's room. _

_He looked up from his notebook and looked over his shoulder, "Roxas huh?" he smirked as he closed his notebook and turned his chair around just a little bit._

"_Yeah."_

"_Who would've thought?" they finished simultaneously, each of their voices echoing one after another. They smiled at each other._

_She spoke again, "Axel doesn't look like the type to like somebody like Roxas and well, vice versa." She offered with a small shrug._

"_I think I might know the cause." He averted his eyes from the blonde girl and focused on an odd spot on the wall._

"_Care to share?" she asked as she walked into his room and sat down on his bed._

_They often did this sort of thing together with each other. After all, they _were_ brothers and sisters. They talked, they fought, they shared secrets, tried to sort out each other's problems. _

_Sibling stuffs._

"_Will you pretend as though nothing ever changed?"_

_She looked at him quizzically, "Why?"_

"_Well," he started, as though he was trying to find the right words to explain, "Axel's never told anyone, except for well…his friends. And since you're sort of out of the loop and all." He smiled sheepishly as he closed his notebook and threw it onto his table._

_She nodded her head in understanding, "Is this something I'm allowed to know? And what's it got to do with Roxas?"_

"_Everything my dearest sister, every, single, thing." He swung his chair around and stared into her mimicking blue eyes._

"_What is it?" she whispered as she leaned closer in curiosity,_

"_Have you ever noticed anything weird about Axel?" he quirked up an eyebrow as he watched her expressions very carefully._

_She furrowed her eyebrows in thought and tilted her head to the side, "Weird? I don't think so?"_

"_The clothes he wears…?" he tried again._

"_Well yeah, but I just thought that he was, you know." She shrugged nonchalantly._

"_Oh nah, he's actually straight. _Was_ straight anyways." He corrected himself, "I just played around with his clothes."_

_She giggled, "But how could he not notice what he's wearing? It's not like he's blind or anything."_

_He held up his finger, "Ah, not blind, but colorblind." He raised his eyebrows as he grinned from ear to ear._

_She furrowed her eyebrows again in confusion, "Colorblind…? You're joking." She didn't look quite convinced, but the more she thought about it, the more plausible it came to be. _

_He shook his head and crossed his arms, "I kid you not."_

_Her look of confusion turned into one of thought, "But…What's he being colorblind got anything to do with Roxas?"_

"_He claims that he sees 'color' with Roxas, you know?" he waved his hand at the comment._

_She looked up in surprise, her mouth slightly hanging in shock, "He sees color? Even though he's colorblind?"_

_He scoffed, "Yeah, I know. What a load of bullsh-"_

"_That's so romantic." She clapped her hands together and smiled happily._

"_And this is the part where our differences are just too much…" he shook his head and sighed as his head sunk.

* * *

_

'You're such an idiot Axel…' she sighed as she straightened her back, looked forlornly down the hallway which the red head had disappeared from before she finally decided to walk back to the blonds' hospital room.

'The feeling's mutual, isn't it?' she wondered as she made her way back, careful not to bump into anybody or anything.

When she got back, all eyes were on her. But she only cared about one person right now, "Sorry Rox, he said he left something behind back in class that he forgot to get." She lied as she closed the door behind her.

"Oh. Ok." He seemed to genuinely understand and Namine felt a pang of guilt but she decided to stop her little white lie at that and not say anything else.

She sat down on one of the other seats that were in the room and listened in to the conversation that the four other people were having as she stared out into the opened window.

She wondered if Axel was feeling guilty about the whole accident.

She wondered how Axel saw his life. How he lived in a black and white world. With only various shades of gray as his color.

She wouldn't know what to do if she could never see color. Drawing and painting was her life. She loved it. With her whole heart.

If she were ever to become colorblind, she'd feel so hopelessly lost.

She widened her eyes in realization. That maybe…In Roxas, Axel saw a bit of hope. In Roxas, he found his way.

Namine smiled as she looked out the window, and understood why and how Axel fell in love with Roxas. It was only natural.

Roxas was the bright, bright light that shone in Axel's dark, dark world.

She shook her head in dismay, but in a happy sort of way.

Without even realizing, the both of them were already stuck on each other. They needed each other.

But she could only wish them the best of luck and hope that everything would work out for them for the better.

* * *

Aww…Shucks…

I'm a sucker for sappy moments, what about you? Maybe you guys need more angst, or drama. Or would you guys just rather skip straight into the romance or kissing?

Well, I'll tell you this…You're gonna have to wait quite a while my friends. _Quite_ a while.


	21. Since then

So like, I ever told you guys I got myself a Tamagotchi? No? Ok, get this. My tamagotchi looks like a piece of shit. No seriously, it's shaped like shit. Funny that…

I apologize if anything seems 'off', because you know. I've never actually had any broken bones before, so yeah. I'm clueless in that department. I can't be accurate one hundred percent of the time.

* * *

It's been a month since the accident.

A month since he was first admitted into the hospital.

Three weeks since he woke up, three weeks since he last saw Axel.

And one week since he was allowed to leave the hospital to sit around his house and do absolutely nothing. But the house was better than the hospital.

His mother tended to his every needs, made sure that he was comfortable, Namine came by every once in a while to catch up, share her pieces of art work and talk about other things while his father always brought home some treats for him such as sea salt ice cream.

Every week, he'd get his arm and leg checked and when the results came back, the doctor will check to see if it's time to take off the cast. Today was the day.

His x-rays came back and it was finally time to take off the white cast that surrounded his no longer injured arm. But of course, when the machine shaped like a miniature chainsaw came out to hack away at the cast, he began to cast very worried and pleading looks to his friend and his mother.

"You're going to be just _fine_ Roxas." The blonde girl reassured him with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"Hey, you're not the one about to get chain sawed in half." He replied meekly and widened his eyes even further when the machine roared to life.

"Roxas, manners." His long, blonde haired mother chastised him with stern pale blue eyes.

"I reassure you, everything will be fine." The doctor spoke as he steadied his arm.

"Listen to what the doctor says Roxas." The blonde girl smiled and gave him another pat on the back. Roxas tore his eyes away from the sight and tried not to listen to the whirring and the vibrations he was feeling on his arm.

When the noise stopped, he wondered why it was suddenly very quiet and why his arm felt a little cold.

Fingers pressed down on his arm and he slowly turned his head to have a look. The sight of his arm almost shocked him. It was skinnier than his other arm and it was pale. Sickly pale.

"Wow…?" he offered weakly as he stared at the arm while the doctor continued to prod at it.

"See? Nothing went wrong." Namine smiled and gave the blond a small slap on his shoulder.

"Your arm has made a full recovery." The doctor looked up and smiled reassuringly.

"Wonderful!" his mother clapped her hands in happiness. "You're father would be so happy to hear. I'll go find him." She spoke as she walked out of the door to who knows where.

"Great." He breathed out as he drew his arm back and merely stared at it. "What now?" he looked up at the doctor expectantly.

"There's not much to do with the arm. Just go about your life as normal but nothing too strenuous. Try not to lift anything too heavy with it." he suggested as he picked up the chart board and flipped over to the next page while the blond nodded with his new instructions. "Your leg might take a while longer to heal but you can start walking on it with crutches."

"Ok, yeah, the sooner the better right?" he nodded as he took in the new information.

"Just nothing too strenuous and if you feel tired, just sit down and rest." He walked away and asked a nearby nurse to get a crutch for him.

When the piece of support came, he was unsure of what to do with it.

"Do you wanna try walking?" Namine asked as she stood by the blond.

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged and tried to get up from the wheelchair but with the cast on his still healing leg, it was a tad difficult. But at least he got to use the crutch.

"How does it feel?"

"Honestly? Kind of weird." It felt weird to walk with an 'extra' leg. Before, he had the help of another person, but this time, he had to fully depend on himself, and the extra bit of support.

She watched the blond take a few shaky steps forward and stayed close by in case he needed her help, "You'll get use to it right?"

"No choice." He let out a quiet sigh and took another few steps forward and slowly got use to using the crutch, "Is there anything else I need to know sir?" he asked as he addressed the doctor.

"No, we'll check your leg in about a week's time but just be sure not to tire yourself out too much."

"Ok, thanks a lot." He smiled in appreciation, and the doctor acknowledged it with a nod of his head. Roxas stuck his tongue out as he moved to walk slash limp out of the door. He almost bumped into his parents who looked a little flustered.

"Oh my gosh! Roxas! You're walking again!" his mother over reacted with a shrill cry of happiness.

"Mum, it's still in a cast." He moved out of the doorway so that Namine could come out with the wheelchair.

"Yes, yes, I know, but still!" she could barely contain her happiness, "I'll make your favorite for dinner tonight."

"Mum, you've been making my favorite for dinner almost _every_ night." He gave a lop-sided grin. "Sooner or later, it's not gonna be my favorite anymore."

"Ah well, do you have any special requests then?" she asked her son and quickly drew her attention to the blonde girl, "Namine, please join us for dinner!" and she turned her head back to Roxas, "Why don't you invite your other friends too? I'm sure they'll be happy to see you all better!"

"I'm not one hundred percent yet."

"Oh pish posh, minor detail dear." She grinned happily and started to make her out of the hospital building towards their parked car.

Roxas shook his head and sighed and Namine looked at him worriedly, "Are you tired?"

"No, I'm ok, thanks Namine." He smiled at her gratefully and followed after his parents.

By the time they got to the car, Roxas was feeling a little worn out and he sat down on his side of the back seat with a tired huff, "Man, I never knew using crutches were gonna be so damn hard."

"He never said it was going to be easy either." she giggled as she hopped into the other side of the back seat while the father took care of the wheel chair. "It's nice that the doctors let you loan the wheel chair for a bit longer.

His seat belt fastened with a click, "Yeah, I guess." It didn't seem like they had a choice anyway. It's not like they could just let injured people go without an aid of some sort. "I wonder how Sora and the others are doing." His thoughts drifted away to a far away island off the beaches of Destiny Island.

"It's sad that they couldn't stay longer." She spoke as she tugged her seat belt on.

"Yeah, it sucks how they wasted two weeks of sitting around in the hospital too." He sighed as he stared outside the window while his father started the car up and drove in the direction of their home.

"Roxas, it's not your fault." She reasoned

No, but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

* * *

"_Guys, I'm really sorry you had to spend your holidays here." The blond apologized as he stared at his hand of cards._

"_It's ok Rox, it's not like you planned to get hurt or anything." The red haired girl smiled as she tossed away three of her cards onto the small portable table in front of the said person._

"_No, but you guys planned to do a lot of stuffs while you're here, but instead, you wasted it all on me."_

"_Yeah, you _should_ be sorry," the silver haired boy agreed which made Roxas' eye twitch just a little, "And we didn't even get to make you treat us."_

"_Well sorry I ruined everything for you Riku." He spoke sarcastically and watched as his brunet cousin made faces at his cards and threw three away and picked up the same amount._

_Riku could be such an ass sometimes…_

_The silver haired boy was the last to exchange his cards before he revealed it to be two pairs. Sora groaned and showed his measly one pair while Kairi three of a kind. Roxas revealed his small straight and collected his winnings which consisted of a variety of biscuits._

"_So like, when do you think you can get out?" the red haired girl asked as she picked up the cards and started to shuffle them._

"_Dunno," the blond shrugged, "It all depends on the doctor."_

"_You reckon you'll get out before we all have to go?" Sora asked as Kairi handed the deck for him to shuffle again._

"_Who knows? I wish it would be soon but it still hurts to move around." Roxas replied as he picked up one of the oreo biscuits and bit into it._

"_You're such a wimp." Riku rolled his eyes and ignored the two slaps that came from the two people that sat on either side of him. "What? I'm just saying." He shook his head as he took the deck from Sora's hand, shuffled them twice more and then dealt them out._

"_When are you guys leaving?" Roxas asked as he licked his fingers free of the crumbs._

"_Trying to get rid of us so soon?" the silver haired boy smirked as he dealt the last card out._

"_No, it's just that-"_

"_Yeah, yeah, we know." He smirked as he picked up his cards and resumed his poker face._

_Kairi tried to look natural but her eyes were still readable and Sora completely failed._

"_We'll come visit again, don't you worry." The silver haired boy smirked as he placed down one card and picked up another from the pile._

"_Thanks, I'd like that." He smiled as he placed down two cards and pick up a pair of aces which gave him a completed hand of a full house.

* * *

_

It's been a month since the accident, since he was first admitted into the hospital.

It's been three weeks since he woke up and three weeks since he last saw Axel.

It's been two weeks since Sora, Kairi and Riku left to go back to Destiny Island.

It's been a week since he was dispatched from the hospital.

He stared down at his cast-free arm and flexed his fingers. It felt new to him and he wondered if this is where they got that saying, 'As good as new' from.

He drew in a deep breath and sighed through his nose and returned his gaze back out the window to stare at the passing scenery.

It's been three weeks since he last saw Axel. He wondered where the red head went off to.

Even though he never saw the red head around, a new batch of balloons would appear every once in a while to float along with the other ones.

His floor was been littered with balloons that lost its freedom of flight. Riku had a bit of fun popping them and scaring the begeezuz out of Kairi and sometimes Sora if he was caught off guard.

"Do you know why Axel hasn't been coming to see me?" Roxas asked, not averting his eyes away from the window.

Namine remained silent for a while as she stared at the blond through the reflection, they looked nonchalant but the blue eyes seemed confused, "He says he's studying for exams. Everybody is."

He tried to look for a flaw in that excuse, "But you've got exams too and you still come to see me. In fact, so does Hayner, Pence and Olette."

She was definitely stuck in the rut now, "Well…he _is_ doing Diploma of Business Economics. It sounds hard."

That was true. Roxas realized. While everybody in his age group were still on the Certificate level, the course wasn't quite that hard enough to prevent them from having a busy yet carefree lifestyle.

He found another flaw, "Even Zexion came to see me. _And_ Demyx." He wished he didn't sound like a spoiled brat, but he couldn't help it.

"Maybe you should ask him yourself?" she suggested with a hint of worry.

"I would, but my phone got crushed and I haven't seen him around and I don't want to use anybody as a medium of communication between us." He reasoned with a slight huff.

"Then you'll just have to wait until you get better. But don't strain yourself."

Roxas stopped talking after that, but his mind kept on going and going, 'I've been waiting for a long time now.' He breathed in deeply and sighed quietly.

"I've missed a month of uni now." He started a new topic, "I'll probably end up missing more."

Namine seemed happy at the change in subject as Roxas continued talking about how he'd probably end up repeating the whole year again.

His parents didn't seem too happy about that, but they reasoned that he had no choice but to miss his classes. They seemed pretty ok with it after a while. After all, it wasn't like he planned to get run over by a car or something.

He changed the subject over to art, something that Namine was familiar with. And when he gave the small hint that he might switch over to art instead of going on with literature, Namine could barely contain her excitement as she went on and on about the teachers, the department, the equipment they were allowed to use, the galleries that had all works from previous students and the items he'd have to buy from the local art store.

She even said she buy his first easel for him to paint on.

"You don't have to go that far Namine. I said I might."

And then the blonde girl pouted and told him off for bursting her bubble. Roxas just laughed at her.

* * *

There's gotta be a mention of Poker somewhere…Lawls. 


	22. What If And If Only

Ok, so the drama had rolled away now. I feel a little lost…

* * *

It's been two months. 

Two months since the accident, since he was admitted to hospital.

One month and three weeks since he woke up, since he last saw Axel.

One month and two weeks since Sora, Kairi and Riku left to go back to Destiny Island.

One month and one week since he was allowed to leave the hospital bed to go back to his own room back home with his parents.

One month since the cast around his arm was sawed off and since then, his arm has regained back its color, its weight and maneuverability.

Three weeks since the cast around his leg was taken off. It looked almost just as pale as his arm first did when the cast was gone. He still limped a little bit though.

Two weeks since they returned the wheelchair.

One week since they returned the crutch.

And today, he was on the way back to university to have a talk with the staff and faculty of Literature to see if he was still able to continue studying the course. His parents went to accompany him and plead for his case.

He thought that the last bit sounded a bit like he was going to court to get his rights or something.

After a long meeting and after lots of talking, it was finalized that Roxas would be able to go back to attending his classes for whatever there was left to study, which wasn't much, but he'd have to make up the rest of it during summer school.

It was going to be a long, hard summer for him.

The news disappointed Namine just a bit, since that meant that he couldn't take up Arts anymore, but she was still happy that the faculty had been nice enough to give Roxas a second chance.

"So you'll be starting class again next week?" she asked as she stared at him through expectant eyes.

"Yeah, next week, but they told me to check online for notices and maybe ask a classmate for some notes or whatever." He waved his hand at the comment. There were still some scars on it, but he figured that they would heal in time.

"You better get started now if you wanna pass your exams with flying colors." She giggled at Roxas as he rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of colors." He brought up as he started looking around for a particular person.

"Are you gonna stay and look around for him."

"Yeah, we need to talk." He spoke, not even turning his eyes to look at her.

She started to wonder what he meant by 'we need to talk'; it struck a bit of fear and worry within her but she tried to act natural about it, "Anyways, Roxas. My break's over so I'm gonna head to class. I'll see you around?" this time, blue eyes were suddenly on her.

"I thought your classes are over." He stared at her quizzically.

"I wanna go through some catch up lessons with my teacher."

"Oh ok," he nodded his head in understanding, "I don't get what you guys do for exams though."

"It's not really an exam, more like an assignment." She smiled and stood up from the table in the quad area. "I'll see you later Roxas." She waved at him before she walked away to her catch up class.

He let out a tired sigh as he returned to the task of locating a certain red head. The meeting with the staff had him on the edge the entire morning and once it was over, a feeling of relief and exhaustion passed over him.

Roxas stayed for a further ten minutes sitting in the quad and looking around before he decided to get up and walk around for a bit. He figured that maybe the library was a good place to start, since he bumped into Axel a few times over there.

He kept his eyes opened for a familiar sight as he walked past the shops, through the quad, in the busy hallways. He closer he approached the library, the more he felt just a little disappointed.

But just as he turned the corner, he accidentally bumped into another person and winced out painfully. His chest still hurt just a little and he was still sort of weak after doing almost nothing for a good two months. His muscles were shot.

He managed out an apology and looked up to stare into very familiar green eyes; "Axel." he couldn't hide the happiness in his voice and the pain he felt suddenly vanished away.

"R-Roxas." He choked a little and got a half smile on his face.

"It's been a while, how're you?"

'Shouldn't _I_ be asking _you_ that question?' Axel thought to himself and got a better look at the boy.

He noticed that his hair was getting brighter again, almost back to its original intensity. His eyes were going back to that shade of brilliance and his skin was back to its soft color. Not so sickly anymore.

Axel knew that the Roxas was getting better, and he felt happy, but it still hurt to be around him

"I'm good, ah, well, sort of." He shrugged awkwardly, "Mind if we…catch up next time? I've got class and I'm sort of late." He smiled apologetically.

Something clicked in Roxas' mind but he didn't think too much on it so he decided to let Axel go but not before he got the red head to agree on meeting up again tomorrow in the library.

"Ok, cool. I'll text ya." The red head threw a wave back as he power-walked down the hallway and was gone.

Roxas stayed for a while longer, outside the library and tried to remember his timetable. He recalled that he and Axel would normally finish class at roughly about the same time. And since it was Thursday, that meant that his class would've had finished about ten minutes ago.

Axel lied, and he didn't know why. He didn't know why it hurt either.

And then something else clicked to him and it made the pain in his chest return once again, Axel should've known that his phone was crushed in the accident.

* * *

Axel walked, more like ran, away with a heavy heart. It still hurt too much to see him. The guilt was still there, still eating away at him. 

All the 'what if's' and 'if only's' questions came flooding back at him and it made his heart wretch in more self-inflicted guilt.

Even though Roxas' colors were coming back, he didn't want to see him fade away again. Not like that time in the hospital.

It scared him to even think about it and he quickly wished himself home so that he could bury himself in his school work, notes and the promise of a demanding schedule for the upcoming exams.

But every where he went, memories of the bright sun followed him and left remorse in its place.

'I can't do this anymore.'

* * *

The silent library, the quiet students, the calm workers, the conflicted blond. The table of which he sat by was unoccupied and empty. People who passed by thought he was waiting for somebody and promptly ignored him. 

More students shuffled past, volunteered workers wheeled a trolley filled with books to either put away or put on hold. The computers whirred softly, occasionally punctuated by a series of taps that came from the keyboard.

Pages flipped, words were scribbled down, the automatic doors slid open and close repeatedly.

And yet, through all the miniscule distractions, the blond heard none of it as his mind continued to think of his last meeting with the red head.

Roxas didn't quite get it. Didn't quite understand why Axel was avoiding him like a plague.

A group of students passed by, whispering words of wisdom to each other and shared various notes.

He tried to think of the reason why but every reason he came up with something, it sounded more and more stupid.

The ding of the elevator resonated through the quiet area and people shuffled out, their voices lowered to a mere whisper.

'I wonder if Axel's still around uni.' He thought to himself and tried to think of what to do next. He was sort of tired from the day and didn't feel like getting up to leave.

"Roxas?" someone had whispered to him but his mind was elsewhere and he barely heard a thing. "Roxas." The voice tried again, partnered with a hand to the shoulder and brought the blond out of his thoughts.

The said person turned around and spoke in a normal tone, "Demyx, hey. What're you doing here?" his voice eventually lowered to a whisper.

"I was doing some theory work and composing some music." He reasoned as he took the seat by the blond, "You look like you're doing ok, how're you?"

"I'm ok I guess. I went to see the faculty today about what I'm supposed to do and stuffs."

"What did they say?" he leaned in closer to hear better.

"They said that I could come back to my lectures but I gotta catch up on the other stuffs I missed out during summer school."

"Youch..." He winced, "Sounds like you're gonna have a shitty summer." He smiled sympathetically. "Why don't you do the same thing as Zex and skip right on into Diploma?"

"Ah well..." His mind started to stray away from the main point, "Have…you talked to Axel lately? He seems a bit…off." For lack of a better word.

"Axel?" Demyx raised his eyebrows and considered the question with much thought.

* * *

"_Axel! What the hell is wrong with you?!" a dirty haired blond screamed as he approached the red head and landed a good punch to the shoulder, "Namine told me you just _ran_ off! Without saying anything to Roxas!"_

_It took a moment for the red head to register where and when he ran off. It was back in the hospital as soon as he saw that Roxas had woken up._

"_I said a few things to him." He muttered as he rubbed the sore spot. Demyx picked a good spot to hit. Right on the bone._

_People scuttled off and steered clear away of the fuming dirty haired blond boy. They didn't want to get too close to his guitar range, that thing is bound to hurt a fuck load._

"_Yeah, hello and goodbye. Bullshit man."_

_The red head seemed to genuinely feel guilty for his actions and Demyx's angry look simpered down to one of worry, "What's going on with you man? You're changing, you're different. What the fuck happened?"_

"He_ happened." He avoided looking into his best friend's eyes._

_He tried to read what was going on behind Axel's eyes but they kept on turning away at the last second, "And you're referring to Roxas right? I thought he was a good thing,"_

_Axel snapped his eyes to look into Demyx's, "He was! Don't get me wrong, he still is. But it's just-" he looked away and ran his fingers through his hair, "It's just that, Demyx," he looked back at the said person, "I can't do this anymore."_

"_Do what? Hang around Roxas? Talk to Roxas? Be around Roxas?" he started to feel his irritation come back to him._

"_You weren't there! You weren't there to see! You don't know what it's like!!" he screamed out._

_The sudden outburst threw off the dirty haired blond a little bit and he raised his hands in an attempt to make the red head simmer down a bit, "Ok, Axel, calm down, let's-let's go somewhere else ok?" he threaded carefully._

_The red head didn't object as he was being led away by the dirty haired blond. They didn't talk again until they got into a sound proof music room._

_Demyx closed the door and slowly turned around to see the red head sitting down on one of the stools with his head buried in his hands. This was the first time, in a very long time, that he had seen his best friend act like this._

_Last time was completely different though, he and his girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend) had broken up for a very horrible reason. _

_He took in a deep breath before he walked over to the red head, "Look, Axel. I…-You're right, I wasn't there, I don't know what it's like, and I can't imagine being in your shoes, but I mean-"_

"_I can't do this anymore Dem." He whispered out._

_Demyx had never heard such a soft, fragile tone coming from Axel before and he scared him, "What do you mean Axel?" he asked as he placed a comforting hand on the red head's shoulder and crouched down._

"_I don't wanna see him anymore. It hurts too much."_

"_But why?" he asked desperately._

_Axel suddenly snapped his head up and grabbed the dirty haired blonds' shoulder, "Because I don't wanna lose him again!"_

_Demyx could see the miniscule eye bags underneath his eyes and he knew that Axel was losing sleep because of this. He looked so tired and so lost, and so hopeless. It hurt Demyx to see his best friend act this way._

"_But…by the looks of things, you're gonna lose him anyway…" he spoke softly as though it might soften the blow of his words._

_Axel's grip on Demyx's shoulder went slack and he lowered his head once again._

_The dirty haired blond watched as the red head's shoulders heaved with each labored breath he took, as though he was on the verge of suffocating._

"_Axel-"_

"_Everything was fine before he came." He started, "Everything was fine. Everything was normal, everything was…black and white."_

"_I thought Roxas meant a lot to you." He spoke weakly._

_Axel looked back in Demyx's eyes and begged for understanding, "He did! He does! He still means a lot to me!"_

_It was a losing battle. And Demyx knew, no matter what he said, he could never convince Axel to just forget the accident that was slowly eating him alive._

_It took a while before Demyx said anything to the suffocating red head, "Do you really not want to see him ever again?" he asked and hoped with all his heart that Axel wouldn't say yes._

"_No..." Demyx's heart soared at the answer, but it plummeted back down as the red head continued, "But I just…I just can't." Axel buried his head into his hands again and continued his soft mantra of 'I can't…I can't…'

* * *

_

"What about Axel?" the dirty haired blonds' heart was stabbed at his heartless question.

"I don't know." He shrugged, "Does he seem weird to you or anything? I saw him today but he sort of…made up an excuse and walked away."

'The idiot…' Demyx refrained himself from sighing out loud, "Well, you know, exams are coming up and all, I bet he's just stressed." He reasoned with a sympathetic smile.

"Oh yeah…Exams…" and then he remembered something, "What do you guys do for exams?"

"Eh?" he stared at him quizzically.

"Do you guys sit in a room for 4 hours or something like the others?"

"Oh, right." he almost smacked his head at his idiocy, "Nah," he waved his hand at the comment, "Our exam comes in two parts." He held up two fingers as he spoke.

"Two parts?" He was definitely not taking up music. Not that Roxas had any skills in that department. Unless you want to count karaoke.

"Yeah, we have this theory exam where we have to listen to some music, write it down on some music scripts, and then write out some stuffs we learnt over the year about various musicians."

"Oh, I see, so is that-"

"Not done yet." He interrupted and Roxas promptly shut his mouth, "After that theory test, we have a practical exam where we have to play a three minute song on our instruments. Must be composed by none other than ourselves." He grinned, "The drummers got it bad though. You can only play so much. You get me?"

"But drummers can play a lot."

"Yeah, but after a while, it all sounds the same, you know?"

"I guess." Nothing ever sounded the same for him, unless he listened to the same music over and over and over again.

"The trick for them is to work with different tempos. Go fast, change the tune, go slow, change the rhythm and so on and so on." He made a rolling motion with his hand as he explained.

Roxas was _definitely_ not taking up music.

"Oh geez, which reminds me, I gotta do some catch up work with a few classmates of mine. Catch ya later Rox." The dirty haired blond boy got up and bolted over to the automatic doors.

He wasn't gone for two seconds before he came back again. "Oh, oh. I forgot. Me, Zex, Nami and Axel got this for ya." He grinned as he pulled out a package from his messenger bag and handed it over to the blond. "Hope you like." He winked and then ran out of the automatic doors again.

Roxas had stared at the empty spot that Demyx had disappeared to and back down at the neatly wrapped dark blue rectangular box repeatedly. He then raised the item to his ear and shook it around to hear something rustling inside of it.

He started pulling at the wrapping paper and ripped it to reveal a box with a well known logo and brand.

"Ho _shit_!!" he cursed loudly as he bolted out from his seat, making it topple over. Various heads turned to him and half of them raised their fingers up to their lips.

The blond smiled sheepishly and apologized repeatedly before he picked up the chair, settled back down and opened the box.

It was a brand new phone. A brand new phone that was ten times better than his last phone. Scratch that, it was _twenty_ times better than his last phone.

He almost melted into a puddle.

He ripped off the rest of the wrapping paper and opened the box to pull out his newest possession, and out with it, came a card.

He picked up the card and flipped it open with one hand.

In the card, it said, "Don't break this one like the other ok?" he couldn't help but smile at the words. And at the bottom were signatures belonging to each of the people that bought the gift for him.

Namine with her flowers and hearts, Demyx with his music notes, Zexion with his cursive handwriting and a plain scribble from Axel.

His eyes lingered on Axel's name longer than the rest but he felt inexplicably happy. Happier than he had ever felt in days and months.

* * *

Man, just when I got use to their sudden change in personalities, this story is suddenly coming to a close. Soon, but not next chapter or something. Maybe in about 5 more or so. Don't get your hopes up my friends. Lawls. 

I loved this chapter by the way. I lied about the drama being over. Muahahaha…Well, technically, it sort of _is_ over. But yeah. You know what I mean.


	23. Broken Promises

No it's not over.

* * *

It was dull and he knew that everything was slowly turning back to normal. But he couldn't get rid of the ache that resided in his heart. 

It was boring, and he knew that nothing would ever be the same again. And sometimes he wished he didn't have to remember.

Didn't have to remember the wonderfully bright moments he shared with the boy, no matter how short they were. The laughs they had, the times they spent.

He wished he didn't have to remember those horrific dreams of the accident. The tires that screeched on the asphalt road, the horrible sickening thud of flesh on metal, the pedestrians that screamed around him in panic.

He had drowned himself in his university studies and thoughts of the accident stopped coming. But once he suppressed those thoughts, they came in forms of dreams. A horrible nightmare. A nightmare he suffered through every night and woke up drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.

He watched the accident happen every night and eventually, he forced himself to stay awake and live off coffee. He stayed awake until his body was too tired and his mind was too exhausted and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Those had been the best nights of rest he had ever had. But then, the cycle begins anew the next time he woke up and he was re-vitalized.

His diet consisted of only coffee and energy drinks. He drank so much, that it filled him right up to the point that he didn't need any edible foods. He was steadily losing weight, but not many people noticed, since he was naturally skinny. But they noticed that he was unusually tired and slow to answer.

At the same time, it wasn't unusual. It was that time of the year again where upcoming exams, extra work and notes takes a horrible toll on the students.

Everybody had their way of coping with it. Some would study, study, study for days on end and take a day off only to rest, re-energized and go at it all over again. Some would leave it for the last minute and then cram, cram, cram it all in.

It was two completely different spectrums. But in the end, they all somehow managed to get the grades they aimed for. More or less.

"Axel? My gosh, you look _horrible_. What happened to you?" a classmate walked up to him with various heavy textbooks in their hands.

"Huh?" he stared at the speaker with half lidded eyes, it was time for his coffee fix. "Oh, Quistis, how's it going?"

"Never mind me, what happened to you? I mean, I know I haven't talked to you in a while but you look positively-"

"Yes, horrible, I got that." He let out a tired sigh as he continued his walk towards his locker. "Exams are _just_ around the corner, you know?" he reasoned as he waved his hand around.

"Yes, but you look like you haven't slept in _days_." She pushed up her glasses and readjusted the grip she had on her heavy textbooks.

"I've been sleeping," more or less, he reasoned to himself, "I've just been having a few late nighters to go through extra notes and stuffs. I'm aiming high this year."

"At this rate, you're gonna end up falling asleep in the middle of the exam and fail." She scolded him a little, "It's the start of the weekend now, I expect you to look better on Monday."

"Yes mother…" he smirked a little as he trudged towards his locker.

"I'll see you Monday, but if you miss it, I'll copy some notes for you."

"Thanks, but you don't have to." He reasoned as he turned around to face her.

"I know, but just in case you can't wake up." She offered a small smile as she raised a hand and waved before she walked off somewhere else.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. He was getting too much attention and he was getting tired of it.

'Since when did I start taking my friends for granted?' he thought to himself as he turned around the corner and made his way over to his locker, 'When did I become such a shitty friend?' he asked himself and remembered the accident, '…Right…' That was when it all went downhill.

He picked up the combination lock and started turning the dial around, "Right…" he fought back another sigh as he opened the locker and took out whatever he needed.

Just as he took out the last text book that he needed for the weekend, his phone started ringing. He juggled his books onto one hand and managed to take out his phone and he stared at the caller ID. The number didn't quite ring any bells to him and he didn't really quite feel like talking to some random caller but he decided to answer anyway.

"Hello…?"

"Hey Axel, thanks for the new phone."

The red head immediately dropped all the books onto the floor and one managed to stub him right on the toe, "Oh fuck!"

Axel could hear the unimpressed silence from the other side, "Bad time?"

He leaned on his locker and grabbed his shoe, hoping that it would numb the pain just slightly, "Oh, no, I mean yes, I mean no! I just dropped something on my foot." He reasoned with an awkward grin.

* * *

"_Yo Axel, wanna input your number into Rox's new phone??" a dirty haired blond asked as he pushed the number pad of the handheld device with his tongue sticking out._

"_I'll do it later." He waved his hand off and continued to revise through his notes. He had a mock up test tomorrow and he was only seventy-five percent ready for it._

"_I'll do it for you, but don't blame me if he phones you and you have no idea who it is." He warned as he started to input another set of numbers into the phone._

"_Yeah, sure, whatever." He flipped to another page, ruled a line underneath a few sentences and wrote down more side notes.

* * *

_

"Ouch…That's gonna hurt."

He could hear the wince coming from the caller and he vaguely wondered if Roxas was trying to make Axel feel better or not. He actually felt a lot worse and managed to ignore the pain as he set his foot back down on the ground and left the phone in between his ear and his shoulder and proceeded to pick up his fallen books, "So…what's up?" he tried to sound casual.

"Nothing interesting, what about you?"

Why? Why did Roxas sound so genuinely concern for him when he's done nothing but avoid him.

"Ah well, you know, exams and all that jazz." He tried to converse as normally as possible but found that he couldn't stop the awkwardness from seeping through. He piled the last book on the very top and listened very carefully. He could hear him breathing, slowly and calmly while his own heart raced in his ribcage. Images of his bright hair and brilliant eyes flooded his mind and he forced his thoughts back, 'I can't do this…'

"Listen, Roxas-"

"Your lectures are over for today right?"

'Shit.' He picked up the phone and transferred it to the other ear, "Yeah, I was thinking of doing some revision and stuffs."

"You wanna take a break from all that and just hang around for a bit?"

"Oh um err… I was just about to meet up with Quistis in the library."

That was a lie. He had been planning to just go home, watch a bit of TV, read through his notes, avoid the kid and so on and so on.

"Quistis? Who's Quistis?"

Axel was just about to explain that she was a classmate of his until he heard somebody's voice that sounded oddly like the person he was just about to go 'meet' in the library.

His little white lie just got him into a shit-load of trouble, "Err, is she there?"

"Yeah, hold on a sec Axel."

The red head felt his heart hammer away at his chest again as he listened to the muffled conversation. His legs grew numb as he continued his crouching position.

"She said you guys never planned for a study group."

"Really? Are you sure she didn't forget? Maybe I'm hallucinating." He tried to laugh off his awkwardness but it just came out wrong.

"Axel, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm totally fine. I'm just a little tired that's all." He brought his free hand up to his forehead in an attempt to ward of the headache.

The silence was thick between the two of them. Axel wasn't sure if he should feel happy about it or feel guilty for not wanting to see Roxas.

He slowly took in a deep breath and exhaled before he trusted himself to speak again, "Look Roxas…I think I'm just gonna head on back and sleep. Tell Quistis I'm sorry ok?"

'I'm sorry Roxas.'

He smiled awkwardly into the phone, "I'll see you around."

"Wait a minute-"

Axel hung up before Roxas could get another word in. It pained him to do what he did and the grip he had on his phone tightened as he stared at the monotonous dark gray device.

He squeezed his eyes shut and took another deep breath before he tucked the item back into his pocket. He remained crouched down on the floor as he slid a few of the lighter and slimmer books into his messenger bag.

'I should get a bigger bag.' He thought to himself as he picked the rest of the heavy textbooks up, raised himself off the floor, closed and stuck the lock back onto his locker then began his slow, trek back to the apartment.

His arm heavy with the burden of books, his shoulder weighed down by guilt, his heart sunken from self-inflicted depression.

Nothing will ever be the same again. But this was the first step to claiming back that normality.

The first step to going back to what everything was before Roxas, in all his brightness and brilliance, came along.

* * *

"-Axel!" The dial tone to sound the end of the phone call continued to sing its repetitive tune. Roxas took the mobile away from his ear and stared at it with a blank expression. 

"Is he ok?"

The blond turned around to the red head's classmate and offered a one shoulder shrug, "I don't know. But he says he's sorry."

"Sorry? What for?" the blonde girl furrowed her confusion as she readjusted the hold she had on her books.

"Don't know." He shrugged again, locked the keypad of his phone then tucked it back into his pocket. He took in a deep breath and huffed out in a tired manner.

"Um…I have to go." She shifted her weight from one foot to another and seemed awkward about the situation.

He seemed surprised by her reaction, "Oh, yeah sure. You didn't have to stay." He offered a small smile. 'We hardly know each other.'

She gave a small wave and turned to walk away, "Bye."

"Bye."

Roxas was just about to think up of what to do next when he realized that Axel might still be around campus. And with that hairstyle and hair color like a moving target, he was bound to find him without the need to try too hard.

The blond darted off, his eyes in search of only one person in particular. His heart hammered excitedly in his chest.

And Roxas thought it was just because he was running despite his still recovering body.

But it was beating rapidly for an entirely different reason.

* * *

Buildings in shades of gray, light colored skies and clouds of white, people dressed in an assorted colors of black and white and mixes of both. 

Posters that were meant to be bright to catch the viewer's eyes remained dull and boring. Signs to coax consumers to come in failed to grab the red head's attention. Notice boards with different colored paper all looked about the same to him.

Everything was normal again. As it should be.

He wondered how he ever lived before he saw Roxas.

The thought of the boy brought an ache in his heart as he walked down the pavement pathway, past the tables and benches. Towards the park where he would enter and then exit from the dark gray foliage, the light gray flowers, the dark shadows and the light sun rays then walk back to his apartment home.

Axel caught something from the corner of his eye and he turned his head to see what it was and widened his eyes in complete shock. He should've known it was him without the need to second guess himself.

There was nobody else around quite like Roxas.

'Shit!' he cursed in his head as he turned back around and fastened his pace to get the hell out of there.

"Axel!"

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-' his heart thumped against his rib cage, his breath grew shallow as he tried to look for a way out of his horrible predicament. His face felt uncomfortably hot and his books suddenly felt ten times heavier.

"Axel!"

He heard footsteps behind him and somebody suddenly grabbed his arm and held him back from taking another step.

"I've called you out about three times already, are you going deaf?" Roxas had tried to joke as he walked around to get a better view of the red head, Axel wasn't laughing or smiling, "Are you ok?" his own smile slipped off his face.

'Stop asking me that question.' He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud but managed to force a small smile on his face, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then…are you avoiding me?" he stared at Axel expectantly.

"Avoi-avoiding you? No, of course not." He panicked a little, "I've just been busy-busier, than normal."

"Then why did you lie about class yesterday." He prodded on, "We have almost the same timetable or did you forget?"

It was true, Axel had completely forgotten about that part and found himself staring speechlessly into those brilliant yet scrutinizing eyes.

"When are we gonna start hanging out like we use to? We haven't talked in ages, I don't even know what's going on with you anymore." He mentally winced and vaguely wondered if this is what the girlfriend feels like when she's being ignored by her boyfriend, "I don't know Demyx or Zexion well but we still talk to each other."

Axel swallowed his nerves and found his voice again, "When the exams blow over or something, then we can start hanging out again."

"What about this weekend? You look like you need to get out a bit more."

"I've been going out, to…uni…" he finished lamely. He was met with a somewhat unimpressed look then quickly added, "I promise we'll hang out sometime soon. Next time ok?" he pleaded, not quite yet ready to face Roxas. He had been trying to avoid looking at the boy in front of him, but he was just, so bright. It was hard not to look at him.

Roxas seemed a bit skeptical at first, but eventually, he decided to let Axel go again, "Ok, next time. Promise." He held out a hand with his pinky finger extended.

The red head stared at it for a moment, not quite sure what he was suppose to do, then it clicked, "A pinky promise?" he raised an eyebrow in slight surprise and dread.

"Yeah, so we'll meet again no matter what. No excuses."

Axel swallowed whatever excuse he had in his mind and stared at the soft colored outstretched hand, "Aren't we a little old for this?"

"Never too old to make promises."

"But a pinky promise?" he retorted with an awkward grin.

"Fine, Axel, if you don't-" he began to lower his hand when the said person's own shot out.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry." It felt so good to get those two words out of his system, even though he was apologizing for the wrong thing, "I promise." He had his pinky entwined with Roxas' own.

"Promise." He smiled and shook on it.

Axel was really never one to break promises, but this time, he wasn't quite sure if he could keep it.

* * *

(Plays around with a rubicks cube) I'm sorry, I'm not paying attention right now. I can only get one bloody side to the same bloody color… 

I'm one cube off from making it two sides! Dammit…


	24. With Him, I see

It's been a bit Axel-centric hasn't it?? But I gotta say though, I like it. Lawls.

Ok, so like…not so much drama. But still some left over. Oi geez…

**Thanks much for the huge 300 review hits!!!

* * *

**

The phone rang, the music played, the phone vibrated, the music stopped, the phone halted its abrupt movements on the table and remained still.

Axel had his teeth sunken into his knuckles but it hurt only just slightly. He sat on his bed, his revision and work left forgotten beside him, as he watched with panic at his handheld device that lay motionless on the table.

Repeatedly, for a few hours, every half an hour or so, his phone would ring, but he wouldn't pick up.

He knew who was calling, but regardless of that, he still didn't want to pick up. He wondered when he was ever going to answer it, and if he did, what could he say to excuse himself for his previous actions?

He made up excuses in his head and eventually, he had a good list going on.

Excuse number one.

'I was sleeping and I left my phone on silent so I didn't hear it.'

Excuse number two.

'My phone died and my brother lost the charger. Can you believe the idiot?'

Excuse number three.

'Could you believe that I lost the damn thing behind the table? Must've fallen off when I was trying to make the alarm clock shut up. Ahaha…'

The last one didn't sound so convincing but at least it had some sort of humor going on. More or less.

He took in a deep breath, picked up his books and went back to revising, his mind weary and his ears vigilant for the next call.

Axel kept looking at the alarm clock situated only inches away from where his phone was. Whenever his phone rang, he'd take a look at the time. And once it stopped ringing, he'll take note of the time and count the minutes before the next call came.

On and off, and on and off again. Repeatedly, since roughly around eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning.

'When is this kid gonna give up?' he furrowed his eyebrows in anxiety as he stared back and forth from the clock to his phone. 'I would've stopped after the second or third time.'

Roxas was definitely not a quitter, he could say with confidence. 'Persistent, isn't he?' he couldn't help but add in a tone of affection.

Axel felt a small smirk tug at his lips but he didn't give himself the luxury of smiling. He didn't deserve happiness. He didn't deserve such good friends.

He should've been the one in the hospital bed rather than Roxas.

He felt ashamed. Ashamed for what he was doing, for what he was trying to do. He felt ashamed for what he's become. Or was becoming.

And just when he found himself settling into an easy pace of revising, his phone began to ring again and he was back to being edgy.

Without warning, his door flew open and he almost jumped out of his skin in horror and shock.

"Geezuz, fuck!" It was his brother. "Oh, Axel, you're home." His annoyance simmered down slightly, "I thought you left your damn phone behind or some shit." He had his hands on his waist and was tapping his shoe impatiently on the floor and waited.

Axel merely stared at his brother as his phone continued to ring.

"Yo, you gonna get that?" he asked as he quirked up an eyebrow and pointed at the device on the table that shifted a little to the left and a little to the right.

Axel swallowed as he turned his head to look at his mobile. He made no move to answer it.

"You know it's been going on and off right?"

Axel kept his mouth shut as he continued to listen to the music that's been playing on and off for the past few hours.

"You're colorblind, not deaf you idiot. Are you gonna get it or what?"

His brother had such a way with words…It was really touching to hear him speak sometimes.

The older red head clicked his tongue in annoyance and stepped forward to pick up the phone and answer it, "Axel's not picking up the damn phone goddammit, so stop calling you fucktard!"

The phone was then rudely snatched away, the mouthpiece was covered and a stern look was given from the owner of the phone to the speaker, "Reno, thanks, but I can do it myself."

The said person snorted in sarcasm, "Yeah, sure, whatever, let the phone ring and ring and ring, why don't cha. Put it on silent next time, would ya?" he shook his head in annoyance as he stepped out of the room and closed the door with a small slam.

His room was quiet once again with the occasional muffled noise coming from his handheld device. He took in a deep breath before he raised his phone to his ear and spoke, "…Hello?"

"Axel, do you have _any_ idea how many times I've been calling?" he sounded angry and a little bit pissed off.

'Yes.' The red head laughed nervously, "Err not really, but funny story about that." It really wasn't that funny now that he thought about it, "You see, I left my phone on silent, and then, I was sleeping and then yeah…" he finished lamely and ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly.

"You were sleeping?" he didn't sound so convinced, "It's almost 4 in the afternoon."

"I had-" something got stuck in his throat and he had to cough to clear it, "I had a late night last night. Studying and stuffs." That was only half true. He went to bed at about 2am but he woke up by 10. His body clock wouldn't let him sleep any further than that.

"Oh ok. I thought you went M.I.A or something. Was about to call the police for you."

Axel could hear the joking tone from Roxas but he couldn't bring himself to laugh because when the boy said police, he immediately thought of the ambulance.

"So, Namine was thinking of catching a movie tonight, wanna come too?"

'Yes.' He stopped himself before the word came out, "I…I've got studying to do." He reasoned as he looked around the room. Why did he never bother to buy a mini fan? The room was starting to get hot in a humid and uncomfortable way.

"Take a break, we haven't talked in ages."

"We're talking now though."

"I don't mean in this kind of way. I meant, I don't know." He sounded frustrated for a moment and Axel could picture him running his fingers through his hair. "I just meant, everything going back to normal again."

Normal.

The word from Roxas' mouth stung like hell. And his heart twisted into itself.

He couldn't find the right words to say and his mouth stopped working.

"Axel?"

"Y-yeah?" the red head snapped out of his silence and coughed again in an attempt to get rid of the awkwardness in his voice.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine." He was starting to get a little sick and tired of hearing the same question over and over again.

"You sound kind of edgy."

"It's the caffeine."

"How much have you been drinking?"

"Um…" he eyed the empty cups from coffee shops that littered his bin and the one that wasn't quite finished yet on his table. "Two cups?"

"Two cups of coffee so soon after you woke up?"

'Oh shit.' He had forgotten that he had _just_ 'woken' up, "Yeah, gotta kick-start my system. I'm still a little groggy."

"Hm…Ok."

The silence was thick between them and Axel felt the room grow warmer and warmer with each passing second into the phone call.

"…So…" Roxas started again, "You don't want to watch a movie tonight?"

'Watch a black and white film? No thanks, I'd get distracted by your colors.' He smacked himself on his cheek to make the thoughts go away, "Maybe not tonight."

"Tomorrow?" he sounded hopeful and Axel couldn't help but feel guilty for bringing his hopes down.

He decided to go with a compromise, "If, I'm feeling ok." He quietly sighed to himself. He didn't know he ended up bringing up his own hopes as well.

"Great, I'll tell the others about it. And I'll get back to you on the time."

"Ok, see you." He had his hand covering his face. The feeling of shame for lying and bringing in false optimism was getting too much for him to handle.

"See you tomorrow."

He managed a soft grunt before Roxas hung up, and he sat still for a moment, just listening to the dead tone from his mobile.

He took in a deep breath, and then another but soon, his breaths became shallow, his fist tightened around the phone, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration and agitation. And finally, he snapped as he threw his phone to the side and tossed all his text books onto the floor.

"Fuck!!!" he shouted, and then again, screamed it out, long and hard until he couldn't breathe anymore.

His brother stormed in, a little worried and a little fearful for his younger sibling. He stayed by the door and watched as his little brother took in labored breaths and looked angry, confused and lost all at the same time.

"Fuck…" Axel swore again as he fell back onto his now cleared up bed and stared up at the ceiling.

The older red head averted his eyes away from Axel and stared at the mess on the floor and then his eyes landed on the phone that was still miraculously in one piece, despite the large impact it made on the wall which was now a little dented.

Chipped and cracked on one side of the hand-held device, but still functional, he noted as he picked up the phone and treaded carefully across the bedroom.

"Yo…" he started carefully, "You ok now?" he asked as he pulled out the swivel chair and sat down on it.

Axel had his palms covering his eyes and his breaths were still shallow, but at least it was a little more controlled this time. He grunted, "…As ok as I'm ever gonna be again."

Reno knew he had been sort of neglecting his younger brother, but he figured that Axel was more than capable of looking after himself. He wondered what happened to him in the past how many months that rolled by without warning. "What happened? You wanna tell me about it?"

Axel said nothing as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms.

But Reno waited.

And then, "It should've been me, you know?" he started suddenly.

The older red head furrowed his eyebrows in mixed confusion and anxiety, "For what?"

He bolted up from the bed and glared into his brother's colorless eyes, "It should've been _me_ that got hit by the stupid car! It should've been _me_ in that hospital bed!" he shouted out in near hysterics, "It should've been _me_ that got pushed over the side! It shouldn't have happened to Roxas!"

"Yo man, calm down and breathe for a second will ya?" he spoke as he tried to reach out to his brother's shoulder but it was rudely shoved away.

"No! You don't get it! You weren't there to see it! You weren't there to see how I've been suffering for the past two months! You were _never there_!!" he screamed out, but once it got out of his system, he immediately felt guilty for screaming at his brother who was nothing but a third party and doesn't know anything of what was going on.

"You done yet?" he looked mildly pissed off and Axel had the decency to look horribly guilt-ridden and abashed. "Ok? Good. Now tell me what the fuck's happened to you." He demanded with a voice of authority.

"It…It just happened, you know? Like…" all the memories that he had tried so damn hard to suppress suddenly came back like it was never gone in the first place, "Like…one second, he was _right_ beside me, and the next, he was like… a hundred feet away."

"Who? Roxas?"

Axel winced at the mere memory of the accident. The bright haired mixed in with the pool of blood. It was horrible. It was still so vivid, even now, two months later.

"What happened? Tell me." He encouraged his brother with a soft tone and leaned in closer with his elbows on his legs.

Axel swung his feet over the bed and planted them on the cold, hardwood floor and had his body turned to his brother, "There was an accident. A stupid, _stupid_ accident."

"And this happened two months ago? Where the fuck have I been?" Reno couldn't help but mutter out as he watched his younger sibling go through an episode.

Axel had his fingers buried through his hair and he just kept pulling and letting go repeatedly, "I mean, one minute, we were laughing at something, and then the next, we were on the way to the hospital." He let out a shaky breath, "Oh my god…" he shuddered at the thought and squeezed his eyes shut but the images became clearer. "He was surrounded by his blood. It was so horrible. His hair was _soaked_ in it. It was so bright. It looked like…my hair."

The older brother stared at the red head for a minute as he processed the new information.

The accident, the hospital, his bright hair? And then, "Wait, wait a minute." He raised a hand to stop his brother from speaking, "His _bright_ hair?"

"I see color Reno. I _see_ color with him." He pleaded to be understood.

"You're shitting me?"

His look of vulnerability was replaced with anger, "No, I'm not _shitting_ you. Fuck Reno, if you can't be fucking serious about this shit then get the-"

"Ok, ok, calm down, geez. I'm just saying Axel. You're supposed to be-"

"I know, I _know_ goddammit…" he let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair again.

Reno watched as his brother sighed and changed his expression to one of pain, anger, regret, guilt and agitation. Then finally, "Ok Axel…start from the beginning, when you first met Roxas."

Axel took in a deep breath and sighed then begun the long story of how he first met the boy, and he made sure not to leave out any details, "We bumped into each other in the hall one day…"

* * *

I'm not too happy with this chapter. Think I rushed it? What do you think? I MUST KNOW! 


	25. Look and Listen

And the (slight) drama just goes on and on and on…

* * *

After he heard the whole of the story, or most of it, the older brother had his hand covering his mouth in thought before he finally breathed in through his nose and spoke to his beloved brother with words of encouragement, "Axel, you're an idiot."

"What?!" the said person sputtered and shouted out indignantly.

"You're an idiot Axel, and you _know_ it."

"But-"

He threatened his brother with the point of a finger, "No buts Axel, you-are-an-i-di-ot."

"But-"

"Look Axel, you and Roxas have a thing going on here."

"Thing??" he couldn't help but flush just a little. "What '_thing'_?"

He took in another deep breath and began to explain himself by waving his hands in a rolling motion, "Well, it's obvious by the sounds of it that you have some sort of feelings-"

"No I don't."

Reno had an eyebrow raised at the blatant lie, "You don't?"

He scoffed, "No way, I just figured it's because I see color from him that I sort of-" he cut himself off, he couldn't really find the right words to describe how he was feeling, "You know?"

"No I _don't_ know Axel. I'm not wearing your shoes." He sighed again and massaged his forehead, "Ok, fine, whatever. But what I don't get is why you're not trying when Roxas _is_."

"Because Roxas is stupid and he doesn't know." He muttered out half heartedly.

"Doesn't know what? You're gonna have to go into more depth here little bro."

"He…" he took a gulp and managed out in a weak voice, "He doesn't know I see color with him."

"Then tell him." He spoke as he gave Axel a small shove to the shoulder.

He scoffed and turned his head away, "And what? Freak him out? No thanks."

The older red head raised an eyebrow, "Why? Because he'll think that you're a liar?"

He snapped his eyes back to his brother's own, "Because I _am_ a liar! I've done nothing but lie to him!"

"Then maybe it's time you settle things!" he shouted out before he could stop himself and sighed tiredly, "Look Axel," he tried again, "You can't avoid him forever. You're gonna end up losing one of the best things that's ever happened to you."

The red head buried his head in his hands with his elbows propped up on his knees. "Reno…I can't. I mean…Every time I see him, I see…" he swallowed his nerves, "I see his haired mixed in with his blood. There was so much. It was…" he couldn't find the strength to finish.

The older red head let out a silent sigh and placed a comforting hand on his sibling's shoulder, "It's time to let go of the past Axel, Roxas is fine now, or were you too busy lying to see?" he added with a half-hearted smirk.

The younger brother couldn't find any words to retort with.

Reno sighed and tried again, "Axel, you need to tell Roxas."

"About _what_? What if I don't _want_ to tell him? I don't know _what_ to tell." He whined as he pleaded for some amount of understanding.

"Look Axel, the more you drag it around, the heavier the burden's gonna get."

The younger red head seemed to take the words to thought as his shoulders drooped down slightly, but he kept his head in his hands and his mouth refused to work.

"Axel, there's no reason as to why you see color with him."

'There isn't?' he didn't know why he felt so dejected when he heard it. Because he _wanted_ to know the reason why.

"Maybe it's fate. Maybe it's destiny. Maybe its God giving you a second chance, you know?" he spoke as he leaned back on the chair of which he sat on and waved his hand in a rolling motion, "Maybe it's your imagination."

"It's not." And he felt angry because he _knows_ it's not his imagination.

The older red head continued, "Maybe he's your one true love,"

Axel felt his cheeks grow warm and he was happy that Reno wasn't able to see the minuscule amount of blush on his cheeks.

"Maybe he's somebody you're supposed to avoid. Like what you're doing now."

Axel let out an indignant scoff but said nothing to retort.

"Maybe he's just special. Who knows?" he let out a small sigh, "Just…do whatever you want to do Axel."

"But…what if he doesn't want to see me anymore."

"You're avoiding him anyway." He pointed out.

"I was just going to wait until this whole thing blows over."

"And if it doesn't?" he snapped but calmed himself down with a deep breath then sighed again for the umpteenth time, "Geez, I'm getting sick and tired of telling you to _look_ but you just won't listen and _look_!" he finally got up from the chair and walked over towards the door, "Just think about it ok?" he added just before he was out of the room, "Think about it, and take a break from studying and watch the damn movie tomorrow." He tossed the phone at Axel which landed right on the bed next to the younger red head, stepped out, and then closed the door with a quiet click.

Axel stared at the vacant spot of where his brother had occupied before and then ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to de-clutter his thoughts.

After a silent moment to himself, he got up from the bed and proceeded to clean up the mess on the floor of his room. He stacked the books, one on top of each other, then picked up the pile and left it on the table. Then he stared at his phone on his bed, still in one piece even after the forceful impact it made on the wall. It was cracked at the bottom and chipped at the side. Small damage.

He picked up his phone, sat down on the bed, fiddled around with his hand-held device, scrolled through menus, went into each application and then concluded that it was still perfectly functional. Then he stared at the wall and found the dent where the corner of the phone had crashed into. The corner of the phone that was now cracked.

He stood back up, placed his phone on the table, pulled out the chair which his brother had previously occupied then sat down on it with his elbows on the table and his eyes covered by his palms.

He had a choice to make, and he had until tomorrow to decide what it was.

And after many hours of constant thinking, he knew what he had to do.

What he didn't know, was that his phone was unable to receive messages or phone calls.

* * *

He couldn't help it, but he felt horribly disappointed when Roxas didn't call him to confirm the time to meet up. In fact, _nobody_ called him to confirm anything at all. Whether it was still going as planned or whether it was cancelled. He should've expected it though, in a way. This was probably karma coming back to bite him in the ass.

His shoulder sagged in a tired way as he shuffled down the pathway towards his locker. He had been so excited and high on adrenaline yesterday, he didn't end up getting much sleep. Adrenaline was, in a way, so much better, or worse, than coffee.

He let out a tired sigh as he passed by the walls that were pasted with multiple posters and advertisements. All black and white with shades of gray.

Monday morning was such a drag…

"_There he is."_

People passed him by with dull colors, nothing caught his attention as he continued walking. They seemed faceless to him. They were all boring. They didn't stand out. Everybody looked the same.

But if he concentrated enough, he could pick out the differences.

He let out another tired sigh as he rounded the corner and readjusted his messenger bag with a small shrug of his shoulders. He felt weighed down by not only his multiple text books and such but also with the burden of having lied so much in the past few days.

"_He's pissing me off."_

"_Don't be like that. I'm sure he didn't mean it."_

"…_Whatever."_

His fingers twiddled around with the combination lock and he hummed a muddled tune absentmindedly. And once the familiar click of the lock snapped open, he tugged it off and left it hanging on the slot as he pulled the door open and started putting in useless books and took out some other work books out.

Once both hands were free, he took out the mobile phone that had been in his pocket and checked it for any missed calls or messages.

There were none.

"_Maybe something came up, you know?"_

"_Look, he's been coming up with excuses to avoid me, there's something going on and he's not telling me."_

"_Maybe it's something personal?"_

"_Something to do with me? If that's true, I deserve to know."_

He let out a disappointed sigh as he tucked his phone back into his pocket, pulled out the last of his books that he needed for revision tonight, then closed the door of the locker and locked it.

When he turned around, the tiredness that weighed him down was suddenly lifted, "Roxas, Demyx, hey." He raised a hand in greeting as he approached them.

"Hey yourself." The younger boy retorted as he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow in a skeptical way.

Axel ignored the weird look he was getting from the smaller boy and turned his attention to the other boy who accompanied him, "What happened yesterday? Was it cancelled?"

"Well-"

"Because of you." Roxas spat out.

"Hey, hey, what's-err..." he swallowed his anxiety, "What's with the hostility?" he raised his hands in defense and furrowed his eyebrows in worry as he looked down at the boy who looked about ready to bite his head off.

"Don't pretend like you don't know Axel." He unfolded his arms and sneered at the red head.

What was going on? Axel really had no idea. But he knew that he should never ever cross Roxas, because he looked ferocious despite his bright colors. "Don't know what?" he managed weakly as though if he spoke any louder, Roxas might explode at him.

The smaller boy was about to launch into a verbal fight but the older boy placed a hand on his shoulder before he could start, so instead, Roxas gave up and said, "Whatever…" then folded his arms and looked away.

Demyx smiled, but it was the sort of smile that looked disappointed, and Axel had no idea what he did, or what he _didn't_ do.

"We phoned you, like, for ten minutes, and you never picked up, so we texted you, but you never replied, and you never showed up."

"Nobody phoned or texted me yesterday." Axel spoke midway of taking out his phone and tried to ignore the scoff of disbelief from the younger boy, "See?" he held up his phone and showed them his inbox, the last message he received was two days ago. And the last phone call he had was with Roxas that was also two days ago.

Roxas intervened, "That doesn't prove anything, you could've easily deleted them."

"Well yeah, sure, but I don't normally delete my inbox unless it's full and as for my list of phone calls, I just leave them alone." He reasoned as he held onto his phone and urged for them to believe him.

Roxas let out a frustrated noise but Demyx spoke before the other boy could, "Axel, if you didn't want to watch the movie with us, you could've just told us instead of making us wait for you."

"Wait, wait, hold the _fuck_ on," he took on the offensive; his nerves were being played and stepped on, "Nobody phoned or texted me about the movie yesterday ok? I thought it was cancelled." He scowled as he tried to explain himself.

"Maybe you put your phone on _silent_." The younger boy retorted.

Axel chose to ignore that remark, "Look, Dem, you know me; you _know_ I wouldn't just _not_ show up!"

"Well yeah, I guess, but you've been so distant these days." He shrugged with an air of guilt and avoided looking into his best friend's eyes.

"It's not like I fucking planned to-" he stopped midway of his sentence and looked down at his cracked and chipped phone. Then realization dawned, "I dropped my phone on Saturday." He muttered out quietly, "I mean, I-" he threw his hands up in agitation, "Long story short, my phone is fucking up because I dropped it."

"You _dropped_ it." Roxas' voice was laced with disbelief.

"Hold on Rox, Axel won't lie about something like this, right?" Demyx spoke as he turned his head to his best friend.

"If you don't believe me, just try it." he handed his phone over to them but they made no move to retrieve it.

He watched Roxas' features carefully and noticed the change in them. From anger, it simpered down to disappointment and Axel couldn't help but feel his heart wretch itself in defeat.

"I believe you Axel." Demyx spoke as he kept his hands firmly to his sides, he didn't want his best friend to get angry at him. "Really, I do."

"Just…try it. Please." He pleaded as he continued to hold out the phone.

"Ok." The taller boy moved to take his phone out from his own pocket before he punched in a few keys and lifted it up to his ear, "It's ringing."

Any second now, it would be decided whether or not Axel had been lying or had been telling the truth. The mobile in Axel's hand made no movement, didn't even blink or made any noise to acknowledge that a call was even coming in.

"Gimme the damn phone." Roxas spoke as he reached out to retrieve Demyx's phone, stared at the screen to see that a call _was_ indeed going out to the red head's phone and then he raised it to hear the familiar ring.

Roxas was relieved that Axel had been telling the truth, but he felt horrible for doubting him as well. But that still didn't quite explain why Axel's phone looked perfectly fine but definitely not fine at the same time.

"What's wrong with your phone then?" he asked as he hung up the mobile and handed it back to the owner.

"I um…" he avoided looking into his brilliant eyes, "I threw it at the wall?" he offered lamely as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"You _threw_ it?" the two other people cried out simultaneously.

"Yeah…I…was angry." He reasoned as he ran his fingers through his hair all the while avoiding their looks of disbelief.

"So you decided to _throw_ your _phone_?" Roxas cried out as he continued to stare at the red head while his mouth was left hanging.

"I was angry at myself, ok?"

Demyx spoke in an upset tone, "Why? If you don't tell us what's wrong, how're we supposed to help you?"

Axel sighed, "I know what's wrong with me. I just…I was scared, alright?"

"You don't have to be the only one to go through this. Share it around so it'll lighten the burden." While Demyx spoke, Roxas remained silent; a little unsure of what was going on.

It could be just a general thing that the dirty haired blond was talking about though, but there was a part of Roxas that just _knew_ it wasn't _just_ a general topic.

"I already told you about it Dem." Axel finished quietly and avoided looking anywhere close to their faces. He didn't want to look into their eyes, especially Roxas'.

Demyx had momentarily glanced down at the other who stood beside him and understood the situation, more or less.

And as the silence continued on, the apprehension in the air thickened until Roxas finally spoke, "Is it because of me?"

Demyx found that he really couldn't answer that question but it wasn't in his place to say anything.

And when Roxas' question was left hanging in the air, he found that he really didn't want to hear the answer, so he took a small step back, "I see…" he mumbled out dejectedly and was about to fully retreat when somebody called out to him.

"Wait, Roxas."

The said person kept his eyes completely glued to the floor along with his feet.

"I have…something to tell you."

* * *

Geh…Not so happy with this chapter too. But I tend to be a little hard on myself. Tell me what you think ok?

On a little side note; today was my first day back in college again, and omg the _PRESSURE_!!! It's fucking _insane_ I tell you! _INSANE!!!_


	26. Blue and Yellow

I'm hungry…I feel like eating smothered in cheese sauce…Yum…

Oh dammit…I'm hungry now...

* * *

"_I have…something to tell you."_

Roxas wasn't sure what to expect, but he suddenly felt anxious to hear what Axel wanted to tell him. He felt nervous, and tense, and edgy and all pumped up with adrenaline.

Is it gonna be good news? Or bad news?

Did Axel want to suddenly cut off all ties with him? If so, then why?

Demyx felt strangely out of place very suddenly, "Um…" he took a small step back, "I'll see you guys later." If there was gonna be a later. He then gave a quick wave and made his hasty exit. And hoped for the best between the two of them.

The tension was high, the air was thick, and Roxas felt like he was being half suffocated.

"Yeah…?" he managed out weakly while he carefully kept his eyes to the floor. 'Hmm…' he noticed a fresh piece of gum on the floor. It was oddly fascinating and disgusting at the same time.

This was it, the moment of truth, and Axel was going to tell Roxas everything. The question was, how was he supposed to go about telling the kid?

Start off casually? Go back to the beginning or what?

"Hey Roxas," Axel tried to start off casually, but his faltering voice failed him, "You know how I told you I was colorblind right?" he laughed at himself while the blond furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Oh man, you're not gonna believe me even if I told you." He laughed at himself again, but it came out more like a strangled cry for help.

Roxas raised his head slightly and noticed that the bottom of Axel's pants was ripped in a sort of nice way.

How was Axel supposed to go about telling Roxas that he actually _saw_ color? But not just color, it wasn't like he could see color. But at the same time, he could _see_ color. It just came from Roxas, only Roxas.

"You're so not gonna believe me." Axel tried again in a calmer voice, "But the thing is, I-I…" the words got stuck in his throat again and he coughed then tried again, "I-I..."

God, why was it so damn hard?

Of course it was hard. This could be the moment where the person that you had cared about would either choose to completely blow everything off, or something else.

Axel swallowed his nerves and tried again, "I see color with you."

'What?' the blond widened his eyes in shock.

When Roxas made no move to acknowledge what Axel said, he continued on, "I mean, it's strange. To be honest." He tried to explain himself, "I mean, one day, everything is the same, the same black and white with shades of gray. And then, suddenly, 'bam'," he quoted, "I see you and I see color."

Roxas was confused. More than just confused. He felt the pit of his stomach bubble with anger, or was it butterflies? The bottom line was, had Axel been lying to him about having a 'disability' of being colorblind? "Have you-"

"I haven't lied about being colorblind." he spoke immediately, as though he had been thoroughly expecting to be called a liar. "I'm still colorblind, but with you, I see color. Do you know what I mean?" he knew he was sort of going around in circles with his explanations.

"...No." Roxas replied bluntly. An air of confusion hovered above him, hovered above him along with tension, anxiety, anger...

"I mean," Axel sighed and stepped closer to the boy, carefully, one step after another until their shoes almost touched. "I'm still colorblind, understand that bit."

Roxas slowly nodded his head and noticed the small rip in Axel's messenger bag where the strap was connected.

Axel continued, "Most of my life has been nothing but a black and white movie, but with better slide shows and with audio." He tried to joke but found that it was sort of lame. "So, you have no idea how shocked I was when we suddenly bumped into each other."

Roxas remained still, his mind working and trying to process the new information that was given to him.

"I mean, you were so _bright_, I almost thought I went blind, but imagine my surprise when I see you!" he had a smile on his face and he remembered why he enjoyed hanging around the boy, "Imagine my surprise when I see your colors."

Roxas furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and thought, 'How is that possible?'

The red head continued, "Your hair…" he paused for a second as the boy raised his head again, "Your hair reminds me of the sun. Because it's so bright, especially on a cloudless day." He raised a hand and tugged on a small tuff of hair on the boy's head. "And then your eyes…"

Roxas raised his head and stared into green eyes. Green eyes that seemed to stare right into his soul.

"Your eyes, they're so brilliant, and I don't know why but for some reason, they just remind me of the ocean. You know?" he managed a small smile, "Which is sort of weird, because I only remember going to the beach once." He laughed at himself and looked away, "That was before the…accident with the flammable stuff."

"It's blue."

"What?" he snapped his eyes back to Roxas', his hand still hovering by the boy's hair.

"It's blue. My eyes."

Axel stared speechlessly into Roxas' _blue_ eyes and felt a smile creep up on his face, "Blue…" he tested the word on his lips, the feeling of knowing what a color was that wasn't just black or white or shades of gray. It was a new feeling. A new feeling that suddenly opened a floodgate of new emotions.

"Yeah, and I have blond hair, or yellow in other words."

There it was again, the new emotion to go with the new word and the new feeling and taste of it on his lips and his tongue, "Yellow…" he stared at Roxas' _yellow_ hair and tugged on one of the spikes. But when he looked back into the blonds' blue eyes, he felt himself being pulled in. And he rather enjoyed it.

And he realized that whatever he felt for Roxas, wasn't just friendship, he never even knew he was in denial about it all, but he knew now, that it was something more. Something completely different, something new and refreshing. And he loved it.

"Roxas…" he whispered out as he leaned in closer and closer to the blonds' face.

"Yeah?" he replied in a quiet voice and felt his face growing warmer, not just because he felt bashful all of a sudden, but also because of Axel's hand that moved from his hair down to his face.

As their noses brushed, the red head closed his eyes and Roxas could feel Axel's breath on his lips.

"I love you…" he spoke, so quietly. It was meant for Roxas' ears and his ears only.

And just when the words were spoken, Axel's lips landed softly on the blonds', shy and timid, and when Roxas didn't protest, he continued on.

Roxas didn't know when he closed his eyes, in fact, he didn't know when his hands moved from being beside him to gripping onto the sides of Axel's shirt, but he liked it.

When they finally broke apart from the kiss, Axel found that he felt…empty.

Wonderfully empty, in the sense that he felt so light. As though all the weight that had weighed him down was suddenly off of his shoulders and gone.

His heart felt whole and complete. Not longer plagued by guilt and anxiety.

And as he stared into Roxas' blue eyes, he wondered how he had ever lived without him.

He was the first to speak out of the two of them, "This is like…" he searched his mind for the right words, "Like watching the sun set over the ocean…"

Roxas laughed then managed out in a quiet whisper, "Idiot..."

* * *

A group of first year university students sat around a table and tried to quietly discuss their current project at hand. At first, they started out with a common interest, but the more they worked together, the more differences and difficulties they were faced with each other.

"No, you idiot, I'm telling you that it's _this_ way." A dirty haired blond boy hissed as he tried to yank away a piece of paper to correct whatever mistake he saw.

"Why should I listen to you, dick-head?" the blond boy whose hair was mostly covered by a beanie, "You're not exactly that smart."

"Would you just-" he trailed off when he looked up and did a double take of his best friend walking alongside with a red head. "Roxas…?"

A brunette girl and a dark haired boy looked up in time to see their blond haired friend pass by the glass entrance way of the library with a red head beside him.

"What's that guy's name again? I forgot…" the dark haired boy scratched his nose in thought.

"I think it's got something to do with car parts…" the brunette girl tilted her head to the side and tried to think of the name of the red head.

"Axel." A silver haired girl with blue highlights spoke while she kept her head down and continued the work at hand.

"That's right! Axel!" the dirty haired blond boy smacked his forehead for his slight lapse in intellect.

"Keep smacking and you'll be dead weight." The blond scowled as he pointed a pen at the other boy threateningly, "We still need to finish the project, make yourself useless after we've finished."

"Shut up Seifer."

"Make me."

"Guys. Would you just shut up?" the brunette scowled and let out a quiet sigh before she turned to the other only girl of the group, "So Fuu, how did you know it was Axel?"

"Zexion." She replied and continued on working.

"Oh, so Axel's your brother's friend?" she asked as he ignored the two bickering boys and went on talking and working with the silver haired girl.

"Affirmative." A firm nod of the head.

A frustrated sigh sounded from the dirty haired blond, "Fine, you stick to your part and I'll stick to mine, got it?"

"Whatever, just don't come crawling to me when you've got it all wrong." Seifer spoke as he shook his head and went back to writing side notes from the library book.

Hayner shuffled his seat a little ways away from the blond and turned his head to the dark haired boy who had been occupied talking to the other boy at the table about what to eat for lunch.

It was boring listening to the two of them talk. The only thing they ever talked about was food, where the best places to eat were and which spots were more worth it.

However, his attention was drawn away from the two other boys when he heard a familiar laugh ring through the air and he turned his head to the entrance way and watched through the glass, his friend Roxas laughing at whatever Axel had said.

They looked pretty friendly with each other for just being friends and then it clicked.

How Roxas kept on missing out on going to play pool or hang out with them because he said he was busy looking for 'somebody'.

'So…this is Roxas' somebody huh?' he let out a thoughtful noise, "Who knew?" he muttered mainly to himself and quirked up an eyebrow as he continued to stare until the two passer-byers were out of sight.

"_I_ knew." The blond haired boy muttered as he continued to scribble down words into his work book.

"Shut up Seifer, you don't know jack-shit." He retorted and threw an eraser at the beanie wearing boy.

"You wanna fight or something?" he threatened as he moved to stand up.

"Both of you shut up." The brunette girl hissed and blushed furiously when she noticed the librarian looking at them with a stern look upon her face.

"Nuisances…" the silver haired girl shook her head in shame of her class-mates.

* * *

The drama is gone and I found myself…feeling awfully lost…(Oh noes!) 


	27. Fundamentals

Thanks for sticking with me this far, but be forewarned! This story will soon come to an end.

Maybe this chapter, maybe next chapter. Sometime soon. Lawls. You'll know at the end.

* * *

A red head squinted his eyes as he tried to pick up the words on the screen projector; his eyes weren't very cooperative today as usual. The colored words on the colored background didn't help him much and he was starting to feel a headache creep up on him.

His lecturer continued on teaching and occasionally quoted from a page in one of the Business Economics workbook. They were back on fundamentals…

He knew fundamentals were important. The building blocks for something bigger and better. But come _on_…It's getting a little old.

His eyes strayed over to the clock on the wall just somewhere off to the side by the screen projector. Just a few more minutes to go, give or take a little, and he'll be out of there and home free.

He fought back a yawn behind his mouth and went back to write down some notes that his oh-so-wise lecturer had just spoken to them.

Wait…didn't he say this line, like…three months ago?

Oh, who the fuck cares…

"Alright, let's end our class here today. Don't forget the basics! Review your previous notes and prepare." Their lecturer called out as his students stood up to pack up their things and leave the room.

The screen projector was turned off, and suddenly, the room seem to dull at the sudden loss of extra 'vibrancy' from the machine.

The walls were pale, the floors were bland, the people that passed him by were dull, and they seem to walk by in a blur. They melded in too perfectly with his world. And sometimes, it made him feel like he was the only human around.

He sucked in a quick breath and exhaled slowly as he packed away his own textbooks, his papers and workbooks, his stationery and other belongings into his messenger bag and once he closed the flap of the bag up, he stood from his seat and proceeded to exit from the classroom.

As he stepped closer to the exit, behind the door, he spotted a tiny amount of bright light shining somewhere off to the side and he knew immediately, that somebody was waiting for him.

He couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his face as he quickened his pace and once he took a step out of the lecture room, he turned his head to find himself face to face with a boy whose hair rivaled the intensity of the sun's and whose eyes surpassed the serenity of the ocean.

"Hey Rox." He greeted with a smile.

He was greeted with a punch to the shoulder and a look a half-hearted anger, "What took you so long?"

The red head winced, "Glad to know you missed me too." He gave a lop-sided grin as he rubbed the injured spot. Roxas just _had_ to hit the shoulder bone. "So, where to?" he asked as they started the walk back to the main campus.

Shoulders shrugged, "Don't know." He walked along side the red head and turned his head to him as he spoke and suggested, "Wanna head to the quad?"

The quad? Where plenty of faceless and blurred people would pass by him and take up his thinking space? No thanks. "How about the park instead?"

"And do what?"

This was the best part about going to the park with Roxas, "Absolutely nothing." He grinned as his fingers inched towards the blonds' but he held back.

The blond stared at Axel as though he had just gone crazy, but then again, relaxing in the park sounded good.

Roxas had been trying his hardest to catch up to as many classes as he could. Which included finding his lecturer, going to as many after lecture classes, random meet ups with other classmates, checking things on the internet, revising nonstop and so on and so forth.

It was a short walk to the park and when they arrived, they found a spot under a tree and relaxed. They shared their events for the day, tried to synchronize the rest of the week with their busy exam schedules and hoped everything would blow over soon.

"So Axel, when are you gonna get a new phone?" Roxas asked casually as he leaned back a little, his palms on top of the grass, his legs stretched out in front of him.

"Er…" right…he _dropped_ his phone, "I was gonna go into the phone store and hope to get it fixed." He replied as he flopped on top of the soft grass.

"Sounds like that's gonna cost a bunch. Is it worth it?"

"Probably not." He offered a small shrug but the small gesture was lost to the grass, "I should get a new phone instead."

"Whatever you decide to do, better hurry up on it."

"Why?" he raised his head slightly to look at the blond.

"Demyx has been texting me nonstop to ask how you're doing and everything." And at that precise moment, the message ring tone from his phone sounded, "That's probably Demyx." He leaned his whole top weight onto one hand so that the other could search the pockets of his pants for the handheld device. He took it out, flipped it open and pushed a series of buttons before he drawled out in a monotonous voice as he read the message, "Hey Roxas, is Axel with you? Do you guys wanna head to the bar…blah di blah…"

"Hey, you know, those blah di blahs might actually mean something to me." He smirked as he readjusted his position so that his elbows supported his top weight, but the blond was already putting in a reply.

Just before he sent the text, the ring tone of his phone started its melody and Roxas picked up, "Yeah?"

"Hey Rox, is Axel there?"

The blond looked over at the said person who immediately sat up, clapped his hands together, placed them by his cheek and 'snored' away.

Roxas stared at Axel and wondered if that's the best he could think of, "Sorry, he's sleeping." He felt a little stupid that he went along with the stupid excuse.

"Ooh…did you guys do it?" the person on the other side spoke with an amused voice.

"Do what?" then it clicked and he blushed, "Hell no! We're in the park you idiot." He cried out and forgot that Axel was supposed to be _sleeping_.

The red head smacked his forehead.

The blond sighed and went along with the lie, "Great, now he's awake, thanks a lot Demyx."

"What? What did I do?!"

Axel motioned for the phone and mustered up his best 'I-just-got-up' voice, "Mrallow?"

Apparently, Demyx bought it, "Geez, you sound tired man, maybe you should go home and sleep."

He shrugged, "Meh…what's up?" he asked and then proceeded to shift around his spot so that his back was turned to Roxas.

The blond was quite impressed with Axel's voice. If he didn't know any better, he would've been convinced that the red head _had_ been sleeping. Axel only offered one or two word replies and grunts before he finally said his goodbyes and hung up.

"What did he say?"

The red head reclined back and the back of his head landed perfectly on top of Roxas' legs, "Nothing that I'd lament for." He grinned as he raised his hand and returned the phone back.

The blond took back the handheld device back and stuck it into his pocket then turned his head to Axel who stared up at him with thoughtful eyes, "What's wrong?" Roxas asked and wondered why the red head was looking at him the way he was right now.

The red head remained silent as he continued to look into Roxas' eyes as though he was searching for something.

"Axel?" the blond asked again as he furrowed his eyebrows in worry.

And then finally, he spoke with the tiniest of smiles, "I love to gaze into your eyes."

The comment threw the blond off, making him raise his eyebrows in surprise, but he kept quiet as Axel continued, "I love to touch your skin," he spoke as he raised his arm and brushed his thumb across Roxas' cheek, "I love to run my fingers through your hair,"

Roxas wondered what spurred Axel to act like this, but he wasn't going to complain.

"And I love your warmth." He spoke softly as he pulled the blond down by the neck and kissed him. And when they parted, the red head gazed into Roxas' blue eyes once again and spoke breathlessly, "Has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes ever?"

Roxas felt a smile tug on his lips, but rather than say anything, he leaned down again and went for another soft kiss.

* * *

Sometimes, Axel found his world a little boring and a little dull.

What, with the monotonous colors and what not, he was surprised that he hadn't gone crazy yet.

But he didn't mind his black and white world with shades of gray. As long as he had Roxas with him to brighten up his day.

"You're the light that shines in my world of darkness. You're the only color in my black and white world."

"Axel, you've been saying that for the past how many days." He sounded exasperated but in a flattered sort of way.

"But its true." he smiled as he twirled a small rounded candy between his thumb and forefinger.

"Eat the candy."

The red head popped the candy in his mouth, then chewed on it very slowly as he tried to gather the flavor, "This…is…lemon, no wait, it's orange." He quickly corrected himself as he licked the sugar coating from his finger and smiled.

"And you are correct."

Axel's smile widened as he leaned forward and waited. And not five seconds later, something warm covered his lips and he leaned into the kiss.

"I love this game." The red head smirked once they drew apart.

"Yeah, I figured you would. But let's make things a little more interesting."

The red head perked up at the sound of something rustling and being opened, "Interesting?"

"Yeah, I think you got the hang of the original flavors."

"So…what now?" he asked as he moved his hand up to pull at the blindfold but a warm hand covered his and stopped his movements.

"We're not done yet."

"Oh?" he felt a challenge coming and he welcomed it as he lowered his hand back down on the table.

"Ok, stick your tongue out."

"Roxas, I can't believe what you're asking me to do." He teased and chuckled when he heard a stutter and a drop of several candies on the table top.

"Axel…"

He heard the warning in the blonds' voice and complied and waited patiently for whatever that was to come. When something was dropped onto his tongue, he withdrew it and then almost immediately winced. He couldn't help but cringe and spit out the candy onto his awaiting hands, "What the fuck is that?!"

"Eat it."

"What is it?!" he rubbed his tongue on his teeth to get rid of the resentful flavor.

"It's skittles."

"No it fucking ain't." he moved his hand to pull off the blindfold but they were stopped when hands reached out to his, "Roxas, I'm not gonna eat this until I look at it."

"It's just skittles, trust me."

He wasn't convinced, not the slightest, "Well it doesn't taste like skittles." He muttered out as he stared down at his hand even with the blindfold on.

"Well, I _did_ tell you I was gonna make things a little more interesting."

"But it tastes so…funky." For lack of a better word.

"I'll make it worth your while."

That peaked Axel's interests, "Really? How so?"

"I'll think of something."

"Can I make a request?" he smirked.

"Depends on what it is." He was ready to shoot down whatever nonsense or ill-advised request that Axel had in his head.

The smirk was gone from his face as he looked up to stare in Roxas' general direction.

The blond was quite surprised. That he could still feel Axel's green eyes on him, even through the black blindfold.

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

The simple request threw him off guard and he had his suspicions, but because it was said with such a straight face, he couldn't help but say yes.

Axel then smiled in victory, popped the candy back into his mouth, then fought back a shiver and a cringe, "It's…" he furrowed his eyebrows in thought and tried to pinpoint the flavor, "It's…" he cringed again, "It's…" and then he gave up, "I don't know what it is!!"

"Keep trying."

Axel sighed out exasperatedly but obeyed as he chewed the candy, and slowly, the tart acidic flavor melted away to something sweeter, something familiar. "…Is it lime?"

It was actually lemon, but the answer was close enough, "Yup." He smiled as he reached up and pulled the blindfold down.

"Do I still get a kiss?" he asked hopefully as he gazed into Roxas' blue eyes.

His question was answered when his lips were met with another's.

* * *

Sometimes, Axel found his world a little boring and a little dull. Colorless and all it's gray glory.

But it was these times that he liked the most. Times where he spent a better part of the afternoon just lying in Roxas' bright company. Time where they played games with different flavored skittles. Time where Axel would just _stare_ as Roxas reviewed through the past two months' worth of notes.

It was the quiet times where they spent together alone that he cherished the most. Because Roxas made everyday interesting.

And brought color to his life.

* * *

I swear, I _swear_. I was _this_ close to just cutting it off here and then.

But I decided, I still have some stuffs up my sleeves, so, the story will continue on for a little while longer.

Don't you all just _love_ me?! Lawls.


	28. Pretty Piece of Paper

Creeping up slowly.

* * *

A red head quietly stepped out of the lecture room into the hall and once the door was closed with a barely audible click behind him, he exhaled a sigh of absolute relief and almost collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

He leaned back on the door and brought his hand up to his forehead to dispel the migraine that he had been experiencing for the past few days. It started out as a small headache, evidence of being stressed out a little too much. But as the exams drew closer and closer in a forbidding manner, the stress swelled to unhealthy proportions and the minor headache turned into a painful throb.

Exams were a bitch…but at least it was finally over.

And now, he just wanted to go back to his apartment and sleep for a few days in a row.

He let out another tired but relieved sigh as he pushed himself off the door and started his way back onto the campus towards his locker. He wanted to get rid of all the books and papers that had anything and everything to do with business economics and shove it in and let it be forgotten.

As he stepped out of the commerce building and trudged his way closer to his destination, on the halfway mark between the two points, he seemed to remember something and halted his movements. He then rolled his eyes in irritation, then let out a silent growl as he backtracked to the commerce department.

Not five minutes later, he stood face to face with the head of the commerce department, a look of seriousness on each of their faces.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" the man asked as he readjusted his glasses and looked back and forth from the computer screen to the other presence in his room.

"Yes." He nodded, "I want to withdraw from the course."

"If I may ask, why the sudden change?" he pondered as he maximized the window to show the report on what Axel had been studying for far, "From what I can see in your records, your grades are outstanding."

"It's been fun and all," understatement of the year, "But it's not what I want to do." he reasoned and then quickly added, "Sir."

The old man sighed as he pulled his glasses off with one hand and looked up at the red head, "So you're just going to throw away two years of your business economics for something else?"

"It's not what I wanted to do."

"You still have one more year to go and if you continue to do well, you'll get your diploma."

"I've already thought about it, but I really can't see myself in a job like that." A diploma is just a pretty, decorated piece of paper.

They stared at each other in silence; the teacher who tried to think up of more reasons as to why the student should remain for one more year of the diploma course. And the red head who tried to convince the other that this was not the kind of path he wanted to choose.

Then finally, the old man spoke as he placed his glasses down on the table, "Well, if you're sure about this."

"I am, sir." He gave a curt nod to show that his mind was already made up.

He sighed again before he sat back in his chair and reached over to the drawer to the side then pulled it open, "Here, take this, my referral, in case you ever change your mind." He spoke as he pulled out a paper, signed it with a quick but precise motion then held it out for the red head.

"Thank you, Ansem, sir." He smiled as he reached out for the form that his former lecturer had handed him.

"It's been a pleasure teaching you, Axel." He nodded and smiled as the red head walked towards the door but just before the door was closed, he shouted back out the advice to get a pair of glasses.

"Twenty/twenty vision!" he smirked and gave a salute before he closed the door behind him.

* * *

"What're you gonna do now?" the blond asked as he stared absentmindedly at nothing in particular while his fingers ran through Axel's hair.

They were back in the park, in the same position of Roxas sitting up while the red head laid his head on the blonds' lap. Their exams were finally finished and they still wondered whether it was a conspiracy or coincidence that they're exams finished on the same day at the same time. More or less, depending if they left the exam room before time was up.

"I've always wanted to do graphic design, but certain things sort of held me back." He spoke as he weaved his fingers together to rest over his stomach. His eyelids grew heavier as Roxas continued to run his fingers through his hair in a soothing and calming manner.

The blond let out a soft noise of understanding then looked down to see that Axel had fallen asleep. His movements stopped. 

The exams must have bonked the red head out of commission and Roxas couldn't help but smile a little. He could tell how tired Axel was. The small amount of eye-bags above the tattoos was hard evidence. Not to mention the slightly disheveled look and the interesting choice of wear. Brown shorts that clashed horribly with his dark blue shoes and green polo shirt. He almost looked like…a Christmas tree, in a weird sort of way.

The red head's eyelids flickered opened, "Why did you stop?"

"I thought you were sleeping." He replied in a quiet manner.

"Nah…" he smiled and closed his eyes again, "Keep going."

Roxas gave a small shake of his head but complied none the less. And after a short moment of silence, he remembered what he had wanted to ask just seconds ago, "Axel?"

"Hmm…?" the red head replied tiredly.

"Why graphics design?"

"Oh well…" he fought back a yawn and let out an airy sigh, "I like to draw things."

"Is that all? Why not take art instead then?" he suggested and realized that he never had a chance to look at any of the red head's pictures and vaguely recalled that Axel had a sketchbook with him from that time at the park with Namine and the impromptu homework.

He gently shook his head left and right, "No, no. I don't mean draw things as in…sceneries and…people or still life. I mean, sure, I don't really mind, but what I really like is to design or something to do with 3-D or something like that." He elaborated with a wave of his hand then weaved them back together again.

"Ah I see." He nodded his head in understanding and continued to run his fingers through Axel's hair.

"I like to draw. I mean, design. But I just couldn't take up the subject because my color-coordination was shot down the drain." He laughed at himself and didn't seem particularly taunted by it. He took it in good stride.

Roxas smiled but was still feeling a little worried for Axel, "Why did you change your mind now? You still have one more year of B.E to go right?"

"Yeah, I guess, but it's just a decorated piece of paper anyways. The Diploma."

"It's a piece of paper that could get you jobs."

"I'll tell you what I told my lecturer." He brought up a hand and coughed into it before he opened his eyes and stared into Roxas' blue ones, "I don't see myself in that kind of job."

There was no use convincing Axel to change his mind because it was already done and over with, but the blond tried to imagine what Axel would look like as a formal type of person. A suit, with a tie to match with it, or not, and maybe with a pair of cool looking glasses that made a person seem more business-like.

It was actually quite a nice mental picture. He let out a thoughtful noise which the red head only half ignored.

"Hm…?" he stared up at him expectantly.

"Nothing." He brushed the thought away. It was more enjoyable and funny to see Axel try to color-coordinate his clothes before he left to go to university. "So, what're you gonna do about your new course now?"

"Guess I'll just go along and wing it." he closed his eyes and smiled before he took a deep breath in then exhaled slowly, "Besides, it's better to try and fail rather than to not try at all right?"

"Whatever you say." He smiled and offered a small shrug.

"Of course," he opened his eyes again and smirked at the blond, "I could always ask you for help with the coloring and stuffs." He let out a mischievous laugh.

"That's cheating." The corner of his lips twitched up for a smirk of its own.

"No, it's called 'requesting for assistance'." He separated his fingers then quoted with a smirk as he opened his eyes again and looked up at the blond.

"Whatever you say, smartass." He returned the smirk and gave the red head a small slap to his forehead.

It was somehow, while they were on the topic of drawings and art, Axel remembered something that happened while he was in junior high school.

He remembered that his teacher commented on his interesting choice of color for his picture of the beach. The image to him was sort of grayish, but he remembered what his teacher said.

"_Oh my, what an imagination you have there." She tried to sound encouraging despite her face that looked caught in between trying to smile and somewhat appalled._

She must've been trying to be polite back then now he thought about it.

"_It's the beach!" he had cried out in excitement with a wide, accomplished grin as he held up the picture with both hands for her to see._

"_Yes, yes and it's _beautiful_!" her smile widened as she took the picture from the boy but it still looked awkward despite her efforts._

Axel scoffed at the memory in a fond sort of way and drew the blonds' attention.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," there was a tell-tale smile on his face but he refused to reveal, "I just remembered something."

"What?"

"I'm gonna have to go find it and show it to you one day." He let out another soft chuckle.

"Can't you tell me now?" Roxas whined a little as he tugged fondly at Axel's hair.

He grinned, "Nah, it's funnier if I show it to you." 

If memory serves him correctly, it should either be in one of the boxes that he packed with him from home to his apartment, or it could be in the basement of the house, or maybe the attic covered in a thick layer of dust.

The picture of the beach. Where the sky was green and the sun was blue and the sand was pink.

Yeah, it was _beautiful_.

* * *

Creeping up slowly…Very slowly…


	29. Lost and Found

Can you feel it coming?? It's coming closer!!

* * *

It was unknown to the red head where Roxas lived until his mobile phone was conveniently left forgotten back in the apartment of where he stayed.

It was a mere five minute walk away to university. Roughly the same amount of time it takes Axel to get from _his_ own apartment to the campus as well.

Except, the only difference was that they lived on opposite sides of the university.

"Just err…make yourself at home or something." Roxas spoke as he waved his hand as a welcoming greeting before he scuttled towards his bedroom.

Axel stepped inside and watched as the blond disappeared down the hallway into another room, "For a grand total of thirty seconds." He smirked as he looked around the place.

It was a small apartment, fit for two people to live by comfortably, equipped with a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom. The laundry room was separate and was most likely located on the lower levels of the apartment complex.

The place was clean. Much cleaner than his own apartment that he shared with Reno. The carpets were vacuumed, the kitchen tiles swept and mopped. The table tops were sparkly and de-cluttered.

The kitchen counter would make a good spot to do homework and assignments on too if he wanted to.

The fridge door was free and clear of magnets (unlike Axel's own fridge back at home) except with a few post-it notes here and there to remind Roxas of what to buy next time he went to the supermarket.

Axel's fingers inched towards the door of the appliance and pulled it opened to reveal Roxas' daily diet.

A carton of milk, yoghurt, eggs, butter, jam, a half finished loaf of bread, and leftovers from some sort of Chinese takeaway.

'This kid needs a little more variety.' He thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow.

Seriously. Where are the microwavable meals? The whipped cream? Cheese sticks? And the random jars that had stuff in it that nobody knew what it was despite what the logo said?

Axel shook his head as he closed the refrigerator door and moved his hand up to open the freezer.

'Oh…There's the microwavable meal…' and beside it, there was a container of ice cream, a couple of ice trays and a box of fish sticks.

There was a curse from somewhere behind him and the red head turned around and closed the door of the freezer, "Need some help?"

"No, I'm good. Just…keep doing whatever you're doing. I forgot where I left my phone."

Of course, Axel would've offered to call up the damn thing, but when he went to get his phone checked, he found out that the stupid thing couldn't send and/or receive phone calls _and_ messages. Damn piece of shit…He was better off throwing it in a dumpster.

But then again, he could always use the phone that was connected to the wall just by the entrance of the apartment to help assist the blonds' search for the handheld device.

Or he could just prolong the item being found and explore the place a little more. Come on, this was his first time in Roxas' apartment. It's not like Roxas hasn't gone to his apartment before.

The red head walked down the small hallway and stuck his head through the doorway into the blonds' room which was currently being turned upside down for the phone. The blond cursed and started for his desk which was the messiest part of the room. Papers, books, pens and pencils were lying on top of the table. There was a digital alarm clock on the edge of the table closest to the bed for easy access to be shut off in the mornings.

"You need some help?" Axel offered as he stepped inside, careful not to trip himself over on the random pieces of clothing strewn all over the floor.

"Erm…" the blond stopped and looked around the room with a hand scratching behind his head, "I didn't think I would actually lose my phone in my own apartment." He let out an awkward laugh, "Where…did I last put it?" he asked himself as he stepped over to his bed and sat down on top of it.

"Backtrack your steps and you'll find it in no time." He grinned as he walked over towards the closet and took a peek inside. He furrowed his eyebrows in shock and confusion and pulled the door opened a little bit more.

On one side, there were the lighter colors of shirts, and on the other, were the darker shades. On the bottom shelves had a light color of pants, and the darker color on the other.

He never figured Roxas to have such an interesting order of things and he couldn't help but laugh a little.

The blond noticed the way Axel was looking through his closet with such glee and barely suppressed the laugh that was coming out.

"Hey Axel."

"Hmm?" the red head replied without turning his head as he stood on his tip-toes to see the top shelves to see sweaters, scarves and winter clothes.

"How do you do the laundry? Do you separate the colors?" he asked out of curiosity as Axel moved his head left and right to get a better look inside.

The red head smiled as he opened one of the drawers inside the closet and raised his eyebrows at the colorful assortment of boxers, "Nice…"

The blond blushed then forced a cough to get his attention.

"Never did the laundry." He answered as he closed the drawer and peeked into the other one to reveal a range of different colored socks, "Well, actually, I did them before, but I mixed in a err…" he paused as he tried to remember what colors they were, "A hot pink shirt in with a green shirt." He let out a laugh, "The shirts both have swirly mixes of both colors along with everything else." He closed the closet door and then walked over towards the bed to sit down on it, "I let Reno do all the laundry stuffs now."

"Your brother?"

"Yup, he doesn't trust me with any of his work clothes. He doesn't wanna go to work with his business shirt all pink and green and shit." He laughed at himself and then stopped when he remembered something, "Oh, there was also the toothbrush incident."

"Toothbrush-You accidentally used his instead of yours?"

"Yeah, silly us, we bought the same brand of toothbrushes, so I couldn't really tell with the colors."

Roxas started laughing, "You always blame the colors."

He waves his hand nonchalantly, "Hey, can't help it. I'm cursed I tell ya."

"It was your own fault to begin with." He retorted with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah." He smirked as he lunged towards the blond and they fell on top of the bed with a laugh. And after a while, they laid beside each other in a comfortable silence.

"We have to meet them in five minutes." Roxas brought up as he stared at the ceiling, his fingers intertwined with Axel's.

"We have an excuse."

"Which is?"

"We are on an adventure to find the missing phone." He smiled as he gave the blonds' fingers a small squeeze. The blond snorted and lightly elbowed the red head. "It's true! We're just taking a break before we continue the hunt again." He grinned as he turned his head to look at Roxas.

They stared at each other. Blue eyes looking into green, green eyes looking into blue. And then Roxas leaned over.

At first, Axel thought that the blond wanted a hug, so he shifted position until his other arm was wrapped around him.

"Err…Axel, what are you doing?" Roxas asked quizzically as his free arm reached for something behind the red head.

"Um…I'm…hugging you?" Ok, maybe Roxas _didn't _want a hug but he didn't move to let go of him.

"Ok…?" he offered a half smile before he reached over, down the side of the bed and pulled out something, "I remembered where I left my phone."

Axel released the blond and looked at the handheld device, "Now, how the hell did your phone get over there?" he asked with a half smirk.

"I must've fallen asleep after our phone call last night." He replied with a sheepish grin as he tucked the mobile into his pocket.

"Oh yeah…Reno was seriously pissed off at me for using up all his free minutes." He had the decency to look a little guilty. "Oh hey, you know once, Marly bought me pink shoes."

He cut in with a mixed look of confusion and shock, "Wait, didn't you already return that?"

"Oh yeah, but this one was a totally different time. Happened last year."

"Oh, ok, go on."

"I swear that guy has an obsession with the color pink. And he's not gay either!" he laughed at himself then shook his head to continue, "Well anyways, he told me it was green, said that it matches my eyes or something like that. And being the appreciative person that I was, I wore it for two weeks straight before I decided to go up to Demyx and ask why people were laughing at me."

"Poor you." He spoke sarcastically and smirked, "Your friends took advantage of you."

"Don't get me wrong, they _still_ do." He laughed at the fond memory, "Anyways, at first, I thought I had dog shit on it. But it was actually because it was pink and clashed with everything I wore. Not to mention it made me look gay."

Roxas laughed and then patted Axel on the head, "There, there. It's all in the past now."

"Not like you never tried to do something weird with me." He smirked as he raised a hand and poked the blond on his forehead.

"But I thought I was allowed." He pouted as though a toy was being taken away from the child.

The red head scoffed, "Only because you're too damn cute." He smiled as he snuggled the blond closer.

After a short bit of silence and a sigh of peace, Roxas mumbled into Axel's shirt, "I don't wanna go now."

He smiled, "Ring them up and tell them we're busy."

"We're just talking though." He was feeling sort of tired anyway.

"For now." He smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down and Roxas barely held in a laugh before he cracked and laughed to his heart's content where tears of joy streamed down his face.

Once Roxas calmed down, they rested their foreheads together and stared at each other through contemplative orbs of blue and green.

"Roxas?" the red head quietly inquired.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." He whispered carefully.

"I love you too." He smiled as Axel leaned in for a sweet, passion-filled kiss.

* * *

And it's just around the corner now, I swears! Lawls.


	30. PS I love you

IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER!! (CRIES) THANK YOU ALL FOR STICKING WITH ME THIS FAR! IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE WRITING FOR YOU ALL! HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON!

(On a less capitalized note) Seriously though, thank you guys, all, so, much! You're the world and so much more to me.

* * *

After one month together, they moved in with each other. Maybe things were moving a little too fast for them. Maybe _they_ were moving too fast. But life's not really one to slow down for anybody. Not even for somebody who's colorblind.

But just as well.

Reno was about to kick Axel out to the curb because of the outrageous phone bill that the landlord of the apartment complex sent to them. That was three months worth of phone calls all used in just one month's phone bill.

Geez…you'd think they haven't seen each other for a whole week and decided to try and catch up throughout the whole night or something.

About a couple of days after Axel moved in with Roxas, he started to notice some things about the blond. Like how he likes to have an order. Like how he likes things done in a particular order, in _his_ particular order, or it just won't do at all.

Axel found it sort of interesting. You know, in a cute way.

Like as soon as Axel moved in and got settled down with everything, Roxas introduced the two laundry baskets. One basket for light colored clothes, the other for dark colored clothes.

Or like in the kitchen, in the top cabinets, where Roxas kept the cereal boxes, or the bottom drawers where he stored all the canned soups, dried pastas and noodles. And the cupboards where different shelves held different kitchen utensils and equipment.

Cups go to the top shelf, plates and bowls go to the middle shelf and the big heavy duty stuffs go on the bottom shelf.

Roxas liked to have everything done in a particular order, and he doesn't like it when somebody ignores that order which he had painstakingly put up.

Although, for Axel, he's sort of willing to forego it.

Axel couldn't really understand it much, how Roxas liked to have things done a certain way. He never really noticed that about him before. But he still loved him regardless of his quirky habits and what not.

There was this one time, when Roxas was between running up and down in the apartment for laundry baskets to bring down on the lower levels of the building, Axel described the blond as a tornado or a flurry of colors.

Roxas stopped whatever he was doing, careful to keep the basket of laundry in his hands, and stared at the red head as though he's gone crazy and wondered if he got exposed to too much.

Everyday since they moved in, they would lie in bed together, in mutual silence. Just lying beside each other, in each other's warm embrace.

Axel would lean over and kiss Roxas lovingly, slowly, tenderly. And then he would kiss his scars in a silent apology.

Roxas thought that maybe the accident wasn't so bad after all, except that he wouldn't want to go through it all again. Never again. It hurt far too much the first time.

The affectionate moments, the sweet moments. Axel loved them all and he had never felt this way before and had never felt so complete. Here, beside the blond, the one who changed his life and outlook forever.

The red head kissed the small healing scars on the blonds' fingers and slowly trailed up until he reached the forehead where he would kiss the scar beneath Roxas' blond bangs.

"Thank you…" he whispered quietly and hugged the blond closer to his body.

Because now, he knew that not everything in life comes in black and white. And Roxas was the one to change it.

* * *

Um…Short chapter? Think of it as an epilogue. You know? The End? Yeah…

I'm missing you all already!

P.S: I has a new poll…Please vote on it ok? Lawls.


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